Photo By Staff Sgt. Kai Jensen | The Army Reserve 76th Operational Response Command hosts the Emergency Preparedness...... read more read more
Subscribe
SALT LAKE CITY — The Army Reserve 76th Operational Response Command hosted the Emergency Preparedness Liaison Officer forum at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, Sept. 5-6, 2014.
The forum provided attendees with the opportunity to network, discuss procedures and develop better methods for inter-service1 and inter-organizational communication.
“This conference is not the end all, rather, it is the start or the genesis to figuring out where the gaps and seams are and agreeing on who will take the lead for those gaps in order to mitigate risk,” said Col. Ernest Litynski, EPLO officer-in-charge. “This is really the beginning to bringing all of our partners together to make sure we have unity of effort.”
The 76th ORC's EPLO organization is responsible for supporting civil authorities in their response to catastrophic disasters, and was developed because of the increasing complexity of the military’s role in responding to domestic emergencies.
“Army EPLO is the frontline, if you will, in preparation,” said Navy Cmdr. Mark Lukken, J35 operations officer from U.S. Northern Command. “NORTHCOM calls it phase zero, which is planning and preparation for response to any type of disaster, natural or otherwise. So they’re the front line that goes out to make sure that coordination is completed.”
EPLOs have been instrumental during prior emergencies such as Hurricane Sandy and the 2013 Colorado floods, where they were responsible for communicating military assets and capabilities to civil authorities in order to provide disaster relief where it was actually needed.
“We provide a domestic response where our EPLOs often respond to a crisis within 6 hours of notification,” said Litynski. “These mission assignments come from a key stake holder within one of the intergovernmental agencies in the United States, such as the [Federal Emergency Management Agency].”
In attendance were representatives from the Pentagon, US NORTHCOM, U.S. Army Reserve Command, Army North, and all ten EPLO regions. There are 53 EPLOs assigned as state emergency preparedness liaison officers, as well as 10 regional teams that are embedded with defense coordinating elements.
“We are a force provider, what we provide in USARC, through the 76th ORC, are officers that are in every state of the U.S., minus Hawaii,” said Maj. Gen. Daniel L. York, commanding general of the 76th ORC. “These officers provide to Army North specific information regarding what assets are available in the Army Reserves.”
York finished by saying that there are ten regions in the United States that EPLOs are assigned to, and what they provide to those regions is a specific army reserve capability that is unique and extremely important.
Reserve component EPLOs from all of the armed services have represented the federal military in each state and region since the 1970s. They have coordinated the input of military personnel, equipment and supplies, in numerous disaster operations, in order to support civil authorities during emergency relief operations.
For more information on your area and what region you fall under, please visit http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/call/docs/11-07/app_p.asp.
| Date Taken: | 09.05.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 09.19.2014 17:09 |
| Story ID: | 142759 |
| Location: | SALT LAKE CITY, UT, US |
| Web Views: | 1,215 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Army Reserve and other federal agencies gather for emergency response forum, by SSG Kai Jensen, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT