DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – While the Army ordered its Louisiana-based troops to stay and fight in Iraq, the Air Force said Saturday it would send 300 airmen home from Iraq and Afghanistan to handle emergencies on a Mississippi air base devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

The airmen, all based at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Miss., will start flying home during the next two weeks, said Air Force Capt. David Small, spokesman for U.S. Central Command Air Forces in Qatar.

Nearly 100 more airmen scheduled to leave Keesler for war duty also will stay behind, said Brig. Gen. Allen G. Peck, the deputy commander of coalition air forces in the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters.

“While our focus remains on fighting the war on terrorism, taking care of people is a top priority,” Peck said in a statement. “They can’t effectively perform the mission if their heads and hearts are focused on the safety and welfare of their loved ones.”

The group includes airmen scheduled to rotate home in September and others whose deployments will be cut short.

Peck, who is based at the U.S.-run al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, said Air Force personnel from other bases will replace those leaving early or being held back.

But U.S. soldiers and Marines in Iraq won’t have their deployments cut back.

Army officials in Iraq and Washington have said National Guard troops from Louisiana and elsewhere on the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast will only be granted emergency leave if their family members are dead or injured.

Keesler Air Force Base, just off the beach in the Gulf Coast city of Biloxi, suffered a direct hit from Hurricane Katrina and much of its housing and other infrastructure was wiped out. Small said most personnel and families on the base had been moved to temporary shelters. “Everything was under water,” he said.

Master Sgt. James Riley, 39, said he only left Keesler six days ago for duty at al-Udeid. Now, Riley is finishing his paperwork to return to Mississippi.

“I’ve been called back to assist with recovery efforts and to assist my family,” said Riley, whose wife and three children have taken shelter in a school on the base.

U.S. authorities want Keesler returned to operation to handle hurricane relief flights, Riley told The Associated Press.

“It’s going to be the heart, the pulse of the relief effort,” said Riley, a native of Tacoma, Wash. “We’ve got a vested interest in getting back there and getting things running. That’s where our homes are, that’s where our families are.”

Others who just arrived are going home as well, Peck said.

The storm wiped out 90 percent of the homes on the base, with officers’ quarters – closest to the waterfront – faring worst, Riley said.

Small said he had heard no reports of storm-related deaths on the base. Keesler houses both active duty airmen and Air Force reservists.

The decision to send Keesler-based airmen home was made by top Air Force officials with Peck’s support.

U.S. military officials have said there are no plans for a large-scale shifting of U.S. troops from Afghanistan or Iraq to assist recovery efforts.

The commander of the Louisiana National Guard’s 256th Brigade Combat Team, based in Baghdad, had asked that his 3,700 soldiers be sent home a few weeks early to deal with the crisis.

The 256th already was preparing to go home later this month when Katrina struck. But permission for an early return home appears to have been denied.

Lt. Gen. John Vines, commander of Multi-National Corps-Iraq, said Friday that only U.S. troops whose family members were injured or killed by the hurricane may be allowed to go home early.

Others will have to stay in Iraq and finish their missions, he said, otherwise remaining troops in Iraq would be at greater risk.

Emergency leave is being handled on a case-by-case basis, said Lt. Col. Steve Boylan, a spokesman for the U.S. command in Baghdad.

The 300 airmen returning to Keesler will be leaving bases in Iraq, Afghanistan and surrounding countries in Central Asia and Arab states of the Gulf, Small said.

The Air Force would ensure the early departure would not damage its battle duties, which include ground attack sorties, cargo and fuel deliveries, air-to-air refueling and troop transport, said Small.

“We’re making sure the unit commanders here can still conduct their missions without the folks from Keesler,” he said. “There are about 18,000 airmen in the theater, so we can pick up the slack.”

A statement on Keesler’s Web site described damage to the base as “severe enough that we are unable to leave our shelters until Thursday at the earliest.”

Most Air Force personnel serve shorter, more frequent deployments in the war theaters than do U.S. Army and Marine forces. Air Force deployments average about four months – but can extend to a year, Small said. By contrast, Army tours last from 10 months to a year, and Marines are sent for about seven months.

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