Military Still Recovering From Sandy

Two years after Hurricane Sandy pounded the New Jersey coast, the Coast Guard’s Sailfish has yet to return home.

The gleaming white 87-foot patrol boat, now temporarily based out of Bayonne, still cannot go back to its berth at Sandy Hook, where the storm caused $50 million in damage to the Coast Guard facilities. While operational, the patched-up facility continues to await major repairs to its docks and piers, along with dredging to accommodate its two coastal cutters.

Farther down the Jersey Shore, the National Guard is also continuing to feel the impact of a storm that left behind more than $40 million in damage to Army and Air Force facilities.

The final bill for Sandy has yet to be paid, with many residents still out of their homes waiting for insurance checks, towns continuing to rebuild their shorelines, and utilities yet to recover repair costs. And for military responders here, recovery is also ongoing — with storm repair work deferred or not yet funded, and in some cases, personnel and families forced to relocate.

The state’s National Guard — which activated 4,837 of its 8,300 personnel, including 2,223 at the height of the storm — incurred $8.2 million just in mobilization costs during the state emergency declared as Sandy hit.

According to officials, $5.3 million was spent on active duty pay during the 10-week mobilization — among them teachers, accountants and firefighters, as well as the state’s adjutant general himself, Brig. Gen. Michael Cunniff, a member of Gov. Chris Christie’s cabinet, who received an additional $6,429 in active duty pay during the storm.

Troops manned security checkpoints, were assigned to shelters, and sent out on security patrols in towns left devastated by the storm. Army Black Hawk helicopters were also deployed. Just feeding the troops cost $1.1 million, ground and air transportation expenses totaled another $858,242, and the GSA spent $712,242 for portable latrines and to buy washers and dryers to allow soldiers to clean their uniforms.

The financial load outstripped the Guard’s available funding, forcing the temporary delay of payment to vendors for meals and supplies.

The Army National Guard vehicle maintenance shop was flooded as well, along with its engineering and maintenance shop, a general instruction building and museum building.

Federal funding provided military construction assistance for much of the repairs, which Daugherty said have been completed or are close to completion.

This article appeared in print in the August 20th, 2014 edition of Hamodia.