US Army practices evacuating civilians from South Korea

Photo By Danielle Coleman | Staff Sgt. Michelle Inez, a medic assigned to 501st Special Troops Battalion, 501st Sustainment Brigade, gathers civilian role player information during training on non-combat evacuations operations during chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff exercise Ulchi Freedom Guardian 2011 at Camp Walker, South Korea, Aug. 18, 2011. The purpose of the training was to prepare the unit to evacuate civilians from the Korean peninsula in the event of an emergency. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Danielle Ferrer)  

CAMP WALKER, BUSAN GWANG'YEOGSI [PUSAN-KWANGYOKSHI], SOUTH KOREA

08.26.2011

Courtesy Story

501st Sustainment Brigade

CAMP WALKER, South Korea – For service members and families stationed in South Korea, NEO is a familiar term. For soldiers of the 501st Special Troops Battalion, 501st Sustainment Brigade, NEO is the mission. Mission success depends upon their ability to execute NEO, or noncombatant evacuation operations.

Soldiers of the 501st STB got a chance to test their NEO capabilities during the annual exercise called Ulchi Freedom Guardian.

Capt. Keith Brown, the commander of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 501st STB, said NEO is the mandatory or authorized departure of civilian noncombatants and non-essential military personnel from danger in an overseas country to a designated safe haven, typically within the continental United States.

For many people in Area IV, the first stop in the evacuation process is at Camp Walker. This is where Brown and his crew set up an emergency control center, or ECC, to process necessary paperwork needed to get people to a safer location. During the course of the training, the 501st STB soldiers prepared to evacuate people from Area IV and receive people being transferred from other areas.

Months of planning and coordinating went into making a training event of this size possible, said Brown. Dozens of soldiers and family members volunteered to serve as evacuees. The evacuees started at Camp Walker, processed thru the ECC and were later loaded onto buses that drove about two hours south to the 498th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion’s training location in Busan. The 498th CSSB received and processed the evacuees as it would during a real contingency.

The top enlisted soldier of HHC, 1st Sgt. Yolanda Brown, said the NEO drill was considerably different in comparison to other training that she had received in previous duty locations. She said it is important for all soldiers and family members to be acutely aware of the evacuation process should an actual emergency arise.

“One thing everyone should remember is to be patient because it will be a very hectic time,” said Capt. Brown. “Just know that the number one priority of the ECC is to evacuate everyone in the fastest way possible.”

Since Korean War, more than 25 real world evacuations have taken place, according to U.S. Forces Korea. In South Korea, NEO training takes place annually and involves hundreds of soldiers stationed on the peninsula. Most recently, family members and non-essential Department of Defense civilians were moved from some areas near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant following the devastating tsunami that hit Japan in March 2011.

• Date Taken: 08.26.2011
• Date Posted: 08.26.2011 07:05
• Story ID: 75964
• Location: CAMP WALKER, BUSAN GWANG'YEOGSI [PUSAN-KWANGYOKSHI], KR