Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Shane Klestinski | Spc. Nicole Ramos (right), Army Warrant Officer Andrew Merrill (center), and Spc....... read more read more
At its core, the U.S. military – regardless of branch or component – exists to fight and win wars. However, when “the enemy” is a force of nature, warfighters need to employ a different set of plans, tactics and procedures to win the day.
After Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for the vast majority of the state on Aug. 1, over 3,500 Florida Army National Guard (FLARNG) Soldiers reported for duty in response to Potential Tropical Cyclone Four. Days before that storm made landfall as Hurricane Debby, Florida Guardsmen assigned to the 927th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion’s 356th and 856th Quartermaster Companies were already operating the State Logistics Response Center (SLRC) in Orlando, Florida.
The SLRC is a warehouse that covers approximately 200,000 square feet to store water, food and other emergency commodities that get distributed to impacted areas throughout Florida during emergencies. These emergencies usually take the form of natural disasters – hurricanes, most commonly – but the SLRC also saw FLARNG operation during the COVID-19 pandemic. During such emergency situations, FLARNG Soldiers report to the SLRC to support state employees under Florida’s State Emergency Response Team (SERT).
“We help liaise between contractors, trucks drivers, and employees of any federal or state agencies that come in to participate,” said Army Capt. Steven Felter, 856th Quartermaster Company commander who oversaw SLRC operations during Florida’s disaster relief efforts. “That includes the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Florida Division of Emergency Management, and various on-site contractors."
The SLRC’s operation includes two major components: the warehouse and the Unified Logistics Operations Center (ULOC). Workers in the warehouse move pallets of commodities with forklifts to ensure those resources get to their intended destinations, in coordination with the ULOC. Soldiers who staff the ULOC provide mission control and command-and-control elements, conduct mission processing, mission assignments, and ensure proper understanding of mission requirements.
“We take inventory of the commodities that come into the SLRC, update that inventory with the ULOC, and then transfer that information to the SERT team,” said Army Sgt. Kenneth Eprestalvo, a squad leader with the 856th who served as the second-shift ULOC operations noncommissioned officer in charge. “Afterwards, we take those documents involving mission tasks assigned to the SLRC, send them to the person in charge of the warehouse and communicate any commodities that need to be shipped.”
Felter explained that every year during hurricane activation, the 356th and 856th are in Orlando, or other locations in Central Florida, where they execute logistical operations.
“[During hurricanes,] our unit is always trained and ready to sustain the SLRC and any other logistics staging areas or point-of-distribution missions,” Felter said. “As a quartermaster company, this kind of work comes very natural to us.”
The SLRC’s operation represents a collaboration between Florida’s military and civilian agencies. Felter said that the SERT team, various state employees, and several private contractors hired by the State of Florida work with FLARNG members to complete hurricane relief missions.
“We’ve had various missions this year and in past years, our philosophy is ‘Florida first, right, ready and relevant,’ and we want to show that to the community,” Felter said. “Not only are the Soldiers of the 856th here with logistical knowledge and skill sets, but we also help with project management… and come up with processes and systems that we carry through and improve upon every year. The SLRC is something that we’re very familiar with, and we look forward to continuing our partnerships and achieving mission success.”
The 856th and 356th Quartermaster Companies are based in Arcadia and Fort Lauderdale, respectively. They are subordinate units within the 50th Regional Support Group.
| Date Taken: | 08.08.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 08.09.2024 12:37 |
| Story ID: | 478177 |
| Location: | ORLANDO, FLORIDA, US |
| Web Views: | 368 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Florida Army National Guard operates vital relief hub as Hurricane Debby makes landfall, by SFC Shane Klestinski, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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