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ST. JOHN’S, Antigua and Barbuda – U.S. personnel joined with their Antigua and Barbuda partners to test the preparedness of the island nation’s national emergency response system during the Field Training Exercise (FTX) portion of Tradewinds’ 2014 that began here June 4.
As the scenarios unfolded and simulated disaster struck the island, the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) joined representatives from the Antigua and Barbuda Defense Force (ABDF), Antiguan first responders, the Regional Security System (RSS), and others to help coordinate their assets for use in the ongoing crises.
At the Airport Operations Center (AOC), the Operations Officer received a phone call to activate the Antigua and Barbuda Airport Authorities (ABAA) in response to a simulated plane crash offshore near the V.C. Bird International Airport. This was the first time the any first responder training included a water-based disaster, an incident with a high probability of occurring on the island nation. The simulated crash kicked off the exercise, activating multiple agencies to test response procedures.
Edward E. Gilkes, Director of Operations at the AOC flipped a sign on the door transforming the AOC into the “Emergency Operations Center.” As simulated casualty reports flooded in, the phones began to heat up.
“The scenario unfolded as we thought it would,” said Bill Knightly, Acting Director of Exercise Division J7 with U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM). “It’s the response we have to look at, and that is the reason we do these exercises,” said Knightly.
A few hours after the exercise began, approximately 25 role players portraying plane crash victims were rescued and treated as emergency response personnel triaged, treated and transported them to Mount St. John’s Medical Center.
“The aim of an exercise is not to see how well [the participants] perform, it is to see the areas that are gaps so you can improve it for the future,” said Emergency Operations Specialist Earl Arthurs, with the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA)
The next day’s activities began with an 8.2 magnitude earthquake setting off a series of disasters designed to test response capabilities of multiple agencies. The earthquake caused two main structures—a cricket stadium and a primary school—to collapse causing mass casualties where first responders coordinated efforts in order to meet the needs of the victims.
In order to make the scenario as real as possible a local school children were brought in as role players. A group of medical personnel trained in applying moulage makeup created realistic wounds and a pile of concrete rubble was chosen as the site of the simulated destruction to give the appearance of a collapsed building. According to Arthurs, it’s important to give realistic training to facilitate the needs of the country hosting Tradewinds.
“Every Tradewinds is different because it caters to the national need,” said Arthurs. “But in general, most of them want to test the National Emergency Operation Center to see how it operates during an emergency, and at the same time they would like to get certain elements of their military and land forces trained.”
Later, a simulated prison break occurred as a result of relaxed security following the earthquake. This gave the RSS, an international defense force comprised of seven Caribbean nations, a chance to step in and test their strength.
Headquartered in Barbados, the RSS helps combat traditional security threats of an operational nature, namely illicit drugs and arms trafficking with internal security. When the capabilities of the local defense forces are overwhelmed, they can request the support of the RSS.
“No one country has the capacity to do everything, but if they all come together to support each other then they find that they are able to be a lot stronger,” said Arthurs.
According to Knightly, perhaps even more important than the training conducted and the knowledge received are the relationships built during the face-to-face interactions between the partner nation participants in the exercise.
“It’s one of the most important things you get out of the exercise,” said Knightly. “If you are going to have a real world crises and you pick up the phone or you send an email, or you are talking on the radio to somebody – if you know the person on the other end – if you have personal relationship with them, it’s just going to make things go a lot better.”
| Date Taken: | 06.04.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 06.12.2014 11:53 |
| Story ID: | 132894 |
| Location: | ST. JOHN'S , AG |
| Web Views: | 49 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Tradewinds 2014 Field Training Exercises, by SGT Daniel Lybeck, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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