For as helpless and frustrated as I felt when watching the federal Keystone Kops, I feel equally grateful for the Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard is a branch of the military and they responded on Monday**, beginning rescues as soon as winds allowed. These are the same people who helped rescue so many families here in Houston when Allison struck. I cannot understand why other area military personnel and assets were not deployed to aid their comrades.

As I try to wrap my brain around what went so wrong, I find the Coast Guard to have been a bright light of what went RIGHT. Sadly, they were a small number of the needed rescuers.

In all of the condemnation - and there seems to be much of it well-earned - I am deeply grateful to know that the Coast Guard, at least, is operating as I expect.

**ETA: That's the Monday of the hurricane, not the Monday a week after the hurricane.