Bayankhongor, Mongolia--GOBI WOLF 2022 is an annual U.S. Army Pacific disaster response exercise and exchange, or DREE. The six-day exercise included expert academic discussions, a tabletop exercise, field exercises and exchanges to improve interoperability, familiarization, and safe practices between U.S. and Mongolian disaster response forces.
A team consisting of members from the 36th Contingency Response Group, 36th Contingency Response Support Squadron, 554th Rapid Engineering Deployable Heavy Operations Repair Squadron Engineer, and Silver Flag joined with subject matter experts from the Alaska National Guard (Mongolia's state partner), Oregon National Guard, the Institute for Security Governance, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Forest Service, the Mongolian National Emergency Management Agency, Mongolian Armed Forces, and international observers from Sri Lanka, Nepal, Vietnam, Thailand, Bangladesh, and the United Kingdom for the exercise.
This year's GOBI WOLF DREE took place in Bayankhongor Province, a mining town located approximately 385 miles southwest of the nation's capital, Ulaanbaatar. Exercise planners chose Bayankhongor because of its proximity to the Bulnay Fault Line. In addition, natural disasters such as earthquakes, frequently endanger Bayankhongor and other rural parts of Mongolia.
"Our nations continue to become stronger as we exercise our ability to prepare for, respond to, and mitigate the effects of a domestic crisis or disaster,” said U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Tracy D. Smith, assistant adjutant general-air and commander of the Alaska Air National Guard during the opening ceremony.
Part of the exercise included discussion on airfield operations during a disaster and hazardous material incident response, U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Mark Hoover, an air advisor assigned to the 36 CRSS, shared the lessons he learned while supporting disaster response in Iraq, Japan, Colorado and Nepal.
"Sharing my experiences and the lessons that I learned from those experiences with our partners allows us to learn the best practices to respond to a disaster from each other," said Hoover.
Additionally, Hoover's presentation included process improvement techniques he feels play an essential role in disaster preparedness.
"Improving processes results in better disaster relief outcomes and could ultimately save lives," said Hoover.
Tech. Sgt. Anthony LaCombe, a bioenvironmental engineering craftsman with the 36th Contingency Response Support Squadron, conducted a separate expert academic discussion on Hazardous Material (HAZMAT) Response Incident Command.
His presentation connected the operational side, or incident command, to the HAZMAT response field exercise, which coincided with the tabletop exercise. Like MSgt Hoover's presentation, Tech. Sgt. LaCombe shared his incident command HAZMAT experiences and the lessons he learned from those experiences with his Mongolian counterparts. Together they learned common challenges and their best methods to navigate those obstacles.
“The HAZMAT response NEMA HAZMAT response demonstration impressed me; they did an outstanding job," said Tech. Sgt. Lacombe.
At a separate location on the outskirts of town, Tech. Sgt. Francisco Bolanos, the noncommissioned officer in charge of fire and emergency services, SILVER FLAG, 554 REDHORSE Squadron, oversaw the HAZMAT field exercise and exchange.
Tech. Sgt. Bolanos, along with Alaska Air National Guard firefighters, Tech. Sgt. Ryan Smith, and Airman 1st Class Colin Corsetti from the 176th Civil Engineer Squadron, Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, traded best practices with NEMA disaster responders and firefighters on tactical level HAZMAT response techniques and procedures.
Tech. Sgt. Bolanos and his team stressed the importance of slowing down, doing the task right the first time, and clearly and effectively communicating with their incident commander what unfolds during the response.
"Communication is key and once that's lost, the operation quickly fails." Said Tech. Sgt. Bolanos.
GOBI WOLF DREEs provided opportunities for contingency response Airmen and air advisors to connect with Mongolian partners, learn from each other, improve interoperability, and prepare both forces to respond to a disaster.
| Date Taken: | 09.27.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 09.27.2022 22:46 |
| Story ID: | 430218 |
| Location: | BAYANKHONGOR, MN |
| Web Views: | 101 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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