She brought shelter after the storm

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Garland: State Guard staff sergeant honored for work after Katrina

12:00 AM CST on Thursday, February 9, 2006
By ANN RUNDLE / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

The winds of Hurricane Katrina swept Jessica Lair into action.

A staff sergeant with the Texas State Guard's 454th Air Support Group
in Garland, she spent the better part of 63 days traveling from town to
town, helping set up shelters and provide medical aid and security to
the thousands of Gulf Coast residents seeking refuge in Texas.

In Deweyville, a Texas town not even a mile from Louisiana, she helped
run a distribution center, handing out food, water, ice, diapers and
personal hygiene items. In Dallas, Staff Sgt. Lair used the sign
language she learned in high school to help communicate with
hearing-impaired evacuees.

"It just varied from where I was on what we did. I went down to
Beaumont, and we did shelter management. And in Orange, we did shelter
management and security, and we also did medical," Sgt. Lair said. "We
did a little bit of everything. ... We changed babies' diapers ...
helped put babies to sleep."

For her work, the Burleson resident was selected as the 4th Air Wing's
Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year. The 454th Air Support Group,
which augments the Texas Air National Guard, is one of the units that
make up the 4th Air Wing.

"I was shocked. I had no idea," Sgt. Lair said. "I was very grateful to
get it, but I feel like I went out and just did my job. That's just
what I was supposed to do."

Sgt. Lair, 23, joined the Texas State Guard, an all-volunteer force,
almost four years ago. She wanted to go into active duty but couldn't
because of asthma. "I still wanted to do my part," Sgt. Lair said. "I
love it enough to do it for free."

The Sunday before Hurricane Katrina hit, volunteers from the Texas
State Guard were sought. "I volunteered," Sgt. Lair said. "I volunteer
for everything."

Then she waited to be called for active duty. She checked in Sunday
night, but there was no news. She checked in Monday morning before
going to work in Fort Worth. Still no news. She went to work.

"Within an hour, I got a call from Austin, and they said: 'Pack your
bags. Let's go,' " Staff Sgt. Lair said. "I wasn't even at work an hour
that Monday."

From Aug. 29 to Oct. 30, Sgt. Lair took a whirlwind tour of East and
Southeast Texas, going to places like College Station, Kirbyville,
Lufkin, Beaumont, Orange, San Antonio, Deweyville and Dallas.

"I knew I was going to be doing shelter management, but I had no idea
to what extent. I had no idea it was going to be this widespread," she
said. "For every shelter that we opened there were four more that
needed to be opened."

And with the shelters came the people.

"Hearing everybody's stories about where they come from, and everything
they lost, and where they want to go, where they want this to lead
them, where they're going to end up" is what Sgt. Lair remembers most.

There were stories of people needing medication, of family members
spending days on rooftops waiting to be rescued, of a family bringing a
stroke victim to a shelter.

"It was always something," she said. The experience has left her "a
little more tolerant of different kinds of people.

"They were coming from a lot harder things than I've ever been
through," Sgt. Lair said, taking a don't-sweat-the-small-stuff
attitude. "I have a larger appreciation for the little things."

Ann Rundle is a Dallas-based freelance writer.