The National Guard: Not Sissies

In the past year, Liberals have denigrated the National Guard---of which President Bush was a member---as not a true part of the military, not as good as the regulars, and a place where the members can appear to be doing something but are really goofing off.

Now the National Guard, who have been fighting bravely in Iraq, are going to New Orleans to restore peace and order.

National Guardsmen Reach New Orleans---

NEW ORLEANS - Four days after Hurricane Katrina struck, the National Guard arrived in force Friday with food, water and weapons, churning through the floodwaters in a vast truck convoy with orders to retake the streets and bring relief to the suffering.

"The cavalry is and will continue to arrive," said one general.

Rolling through muddy water up to their axles, the trucks began arriving at the New Orleans Convention Center, where 15,000 to 20,000 hungry and desperate refugees had taken shelter — many of them seething with anger so intense that the place appeared ready to erupt in violence at any moment.

Flatbed trucks carried huge crates, pallets and bags of relief supplies. Soldiers sat in the backs of open-top trucks, their rifles pointing skyward.

The military convoy was followed by dozens of air-conditioned tour buses, which broke off and went to the Louisiana Superdome, where thousands of storm refugees were massed outside, waiting to be evacuated, after suffering through the heat, the filth and the overpowering stench inside the stadium.

National Guardsmen carrying rifles and wearing camouflage gear also arrived outside the Superdome, walking in a long line past a vast crowd of bedraggled people fanning themselves miserably in the heat.

"The cavalry is and will continue to arrive," said one general.

Rolling through muddy water up to their axles, the trucks began arriving at the New Orleans Convention Center, where 15,000 to 20,000 hungry and desperate refugees had taken shelter — many of them seething with anger so intense that the place appeared ready to erupt in violence at any moment.

Flatbed trucks carried huge crates, pallets and bags of relief supplies. Soldiers sat in the backs of open-top trucks, their rifles pointing skyward.

The military convoy was followed by dozens of air-conditioned tour buses, which broke off and went to the Louisiana Superdome, where thousands of storm refugees were massed outside, waiting to be evacuated, after suffering through the heat, the filth and the overpowering stench inside the stadium.

National Guardsmen carrying rifles and wearing camouflage gear also arrived outside the Superdome, walking in a long line past a vast crowd of bedraggled people fanning themselves miserably in the heat.