NC National Guard prepares for future emergencies in exercise

Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Robert Jordan | North Carolina National Guard soldiers and airmen hold a Joint Operations Center exercise at NCNG Joint Force Headquarters, here, April 6. The guardsmen reacted to a simulated hurricane strike on the state with the Emergency Management Staff Trainer. The system tracks NCNG command and control of shelters, vehicles, personnel and other resources across the state. The simulator and the controllers of the exercise reacted to the scenarios based on the leaders’ actions. “We can put three weeks of operations into four hours of training,” said Chelsea Treboniak of Critical Ops., the designers of the software. (U.S. Army Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Robert Jordan, North Carolina National Guard Public Affairs)  

RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA, UNITED STATES

04.06.2013

Story by Staff Sgt. Robert Jordan    

North Carolina National Guard

RALEIGH, N.C. - Thirty-One North Carolina National Guard soldiers and airmen studied the latest operations order for a category five Hurricane Caroline bearing down on the state.

Maps flashed across leaders’ computer screens showing hundreds of Soldiers reporting to armories, shelter locations for evacuees, while also displaying available transportation assets and other critical information.

Media reports played on a central monitor in the NCNG Joint Operations Center reporting local food shortages in water and other supplies as thousands of civilians flee the storm’s landfall.
Fortunately, this hurricane had a reset button.

“The Emergency Management Staff Trainer automates Standard Operating Procedures and their applications in response to real world disasters,” said Chelsea Treboniak of Critical Ops.

The simulator tracked the participants’ command and control of shelters, vehicles, soldiers and airmen and other resources across the state. The simulator and the controllers of the exercise then reacted to scenarios playing out before them depending on the leaders’ actions. After the exercise, the trainer gave instant feedback on how NCNG personnel responded during the exercise. The system compared the leaders’ actions to the NCNG’s mission essential tasks.

“You can choose your own adventure as you interact with fellow staff,” said Matthew Baker, a software engineer with Engineering & Computer Simulations, Inc.

Army Sgt. 1st Class David Abernathy checked on the location of food and water supplies, while relaying the information to a North Carolina Air National Guard leader, Air Force 2nd Lt. Dwayne Rogers. The two professionals stayed calm and worked the problem using the resources that were available.

This is just the start of a series of very difficult decisions. Who gets what help, how, when and where?

Soldiers and airmen were organized into force packages. Force packages are preset trained and equipped teams designed for emergency management missions.

The packages are designed to be both economical and effective by clearly identifying the specific amount of personnel, equipment and North Carolina Guard resources based upon decades of experience that the NCNG has in responding to natural disasters and working with key state emergency response agencies like the N.C. Emergency Management and the State Highway Patrol.

Leaders faced a challenge though, since they had to make a calculated decision of force package deployments based upon the priority of the mission.

Leaders had to match resources and manpower to the ever-changing needs across half the state. Each decision and action was tracked so Guard and civilian leaders knew exactly what was available in order to protect lives and property during the hurricane and its aftermath.

“We can put three weeks of operations into four hours of training,” said Treboniak.

The lessons were not just virtual; the Guardsmen learned valuable ways to communicate with each other and effective procedures to a variety of incidents that were thrown at them during this exercise.

Working together to determine solutions in how to support emergency responders and civilians effected by this disaster, each Guardsmen came away from this exercise with a strong understanding of their roles and responsibilities as part of the NCNG Joint Operations Center team.

Editors and producers: For any questions, please contact the North Carolina National Guard Public Affairs Office at [e-mail] or by phone at 919-664-6242.

For more NCNG news, visit our website: www.nc.ngb.army.mil/. To become a Facebook fan of the NCNG, please visit www.facebook.com/NCnationalguard or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NCnationalguard.

To view additional pictures from this and other events, visit www.flickr.com/photos/ncngpao.

• Date Taken: 04.06.2013
• Date Posted: 04.07.2013 16:07
• Story ID: 104757
• Location: RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA, US