by the time katrina made landfall, the air national guard had mobilized 840 personnel in florida, mississippi, louisiana, and texas. although the air national guard had a domestic mission to support local authorities in rescue and relief operations following a natural disaster, its utilization for such missions had been limited primarily to a select group of career fields such as civil engineers, medical personnel, and services. in response to hurricane katrina, ang units in all 54 states and territories responded to the recovery efforts in the gulf states, with the mississippi air national guard's jackson air national guard base serving as a hub and operating location for numerous active duty, air national guard, air force reserve, naval reserve and army national guard aircraft. the ang flew 73 percent of the airlift for the relief operations including its brand new c-130j and c-17 globemaster iii aircraft. in addition, ang combat search and rescue pararescuemen and combat controllers saved over 1,300 victims.