Photo By Spc. Anna Laurin | Leadership from nearby state National Guards walk through the urban village of Crisis...... read more read more
Subscribe
SALINA, Kan. - To understand the overall benefits of this week’s large disaster exercise in Kansas called Vigilant Guard 2014, it helps to see all the moving parts and corresponding collaborations that make the exercise valuable and successful.
Maj. Gen. Lee Tafanelli, the adjutant general of Kansas, and other leadership from nearby states took a tour of the large-scale emergency response exercise, hosted by the Kansas National Guard, at Crisis City, Salina, Kansas, Aug. 5, 2014.
The leaders and distinguished visitors saw firsthand how Crisis City was able to host such an event, and how the Kansas National Guard organized and brought together so many entities from across the nation.
“Crisis City has been phenomenal as a venue for this kind of exercise,” said Tafanelli.
The venue not only supported various state Guard units, but also regionally local first responders, which interacted with both Army and Air Guardsmen.
“We have units from Missouri, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Iowa, as well as U.S. Northern Command here,” said Tafanelli. “This really works well for our local responders, as well as our state partners.”
Vigilant Guard is such a large-scale exercise, that the event lends the opportunity for many interactions between all of the entities.
“The biggest benefit from doing something like this, where you have everyone alongside each other working together, is that gain of familiarity,” said Tafanelli. “This exercise gives them the opportunity where they can be out there working together, so that when we do have a real event it’s not the first time that they have met each other.”
The local response teams and community emergency management officials also recognized how beneficial Vigilant Guard has been for their own organizations.
“It’s been really nice to see the interaction, especially for my local folks, to maybe help understand the processes that go into play,” said Hannah Stambaugh, director of Emergency Management for Saline County.
At a local level, Stambaugh’s organization saw opportunities to better their emergency preparation plans, almost immediately.
“Our exercise hadn’t even started yet and already we had improvement ideas for just our emergency operations center,” said Stambaugh. “It’s been very eye opening, but a great, great learning experience.”
| Date Taken: | 08.05.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 08.09.2014 11:44 |
| Story ID: | 138851 |
| Location: | SALINA, KANSAS, US |
| Hometown: | COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO, US |
| Hometown: | SALINA, KANSAS, US |
| Hometown: | TOPEKA, KANSAS, US |
| Web Views: | 67 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, National Guard and emergency management leaders see big benefits from Vigilant Guard disaster exercise in Salina, by SPC Anna Laurin, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
