Pentagon miscounted troops deployed for Harvey relief: report

The Pentagon accidentally miscounted the number of active-duty troops that were deployed to help in Texas and Louisiana following Hurricane Harvey, CNN reported.

U.S. Northern Command said Thursday that the U.S. military had deployed more than 6,300 active-duty troops but had actually only deployed 1,638 as of 7 a.m. Friday.

Pentagon spokesman Army Lt. Col. Jamie Davis told CNN that “an accounting error” caused the miscalculation. Some National Guard forces were double-counted as active-duty troops, he said.

“In a fast-moving response such as this, some people were inadvertently double-counted on a spreadsheet,” Davis said in a statement. “We have corrected our process to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”

{mosads}Davis insisted that “an accounting error doesn’t lessen the impact of our response.”

As of Friday morning, the Pentagon had deployed the 1,600 active-duty troops and 1,254 civilians and contractors to help with relief and recovery efforts.

They join troops from the Texas National Guard, activated in its entirety by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Monday, as well as National Guard troops from Virginia, Arkansas, New York, Iowa, Georgia and a number of other states.

Another 1,050 active-duty service members could deploy, according to the Pentagon.

The troops will help with medical support, search and rescue, aid delivery and other services as Texas continues to deal with catastrophic flooding from Hurricane Harvey. Since making landfall as a category 4 hurricane last week, the storm has claimed the lives of at least 30 people.

An estimated 30,000 to 40,000 homes were destroyed in the storm.

In addition, the Department of Defense has sent 200 boats and 200 vehicles, the Coast Guard has deployed 42 helicopters and seven fixed-wing aircraft, and the state Guard units are using 39 helicopters.