In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, when most people had been saved but cattle were still stranded, a crew of unlikely saviors from Michigan swung into action for one of the unusual missions this storm created with the extent of its flooding.

The first words out of Cpt. Lane’s mouth were that some soldiers reported the flood water burned on contact. I was sitting behind him in the light medium tactical vehicle (LMTV), so I couldn’t tell if he was joking as we rode towards some of the most impoverished flooded areas in Orange, TX.

Without hay drops, cattle, some of whom have been without food for up to a week or more already, would die, further devastating ranchers and the Texas economy in Harvey’s wake.

As Hurricane Harvey tore through southern Texas, the Politics and National Security Journalism Initiative at the Medill School of Journalism worked with the U.S. Army to arrange two embed opportunities for Medill students to cover the storm’s aftermath. Their work was published by the Houston Chronicle and U.S. News & World Report.