Certainly, the way this has unfolded is not what was originally envisioned for how people would be repatriated home. It reminds me of the evacuation of the British Army off the beaches of Dunkirk. It has required improvisation and a logistics effort that is now in full swing.
The military is an ideal tool for these efforts. War in itself is an unpredictable affair. Much of the success of a war effort has to do with logistics.
The movement of personnel out of Afghanistan has not been perfect. People are arriving in places in other countries that were not prepared for the influx of refugees. Isn’t that how it always works?
To say that it is functioning now like a well-oiled machine would be wrong. However, every day gets better and eventually the kinks in the system will be worked out, no matter how messy it may look to us from afar.
Disasters are like the above event. Unpredictable, people and agencies overwhelmed, people criticizing the efforts, etc.
In our case as emergency managers, we too must rise to the occasion and the circumstances we are facing. Just remember, much of our disaster response will also have to do with logistics!
