U.S. Army South HHBN trains for potential deployment

Photo By Sgt. Tamika Exom | Soldiers of U.S. Army South HHBN prepare to deploy as part of an emergency deployment readiness exercise held Feb. 7-9 at Fort Sam Houston and Lackland Air Force Base. The soldiers were certified or trained on unit movement operations, pallet building and handling hazardous materials.  

SAN ANTONIO, TX, UNITED STATES

02.08.2012

Story by Sgt. Tamika Exom 

U.S. Army South

SAN ANTONIO – In January 2010, following the devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck the country of Haiti, U.S. Army South personnel deployed to support Operation Unified Response and helped U.S. Southern Command form Joint Task Force - Haiti. At the request of the Haitian government and on order from President Barack Obama, thousands of U.S. troops and civilians formed Joint Task Force - Haiti and along with Army South provided humanitarian assistance and logistical support. Even before 2010, the mission of Army South was to be prepared to deploy to support a contingency operation as directed by SOUTHCOM.

Army South, as the Army Service component of SOUTHCOM, supports an area of responsibility that includes 31 nations and 10 territories in Central and South America, and the Caribbean. Army South soldiers must be able and ready to deploy to any number of those places to provide humanitarian support in the event of natural disasters.

In order to be prepared to support Army South’s mission, 40 soldiers from Army South’s Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion received phone calls in the early morning hours of Feb. 8. They were instructed to report within two hours, with bags packed and ready to deploy.

For the soldiers of Army South, this emergency deployment readiness exercise tested the ability of the soldiers to deploy a Contingency Command Post (CCP) within 72 hours of notification.
“It was a complete success. These soldiers proved during the exercise they were prepared for successful accomplishment of any mission.” said Maj. Ed Otero, chief of operations, HHBN and officer in charge of the exercise. “We couldn’t have done it without the participation of the Army South directors. Every director sent Soldiers to serve as augmentees to support the CCP. I believe it was a good team effort.”

In addition to setting up the CCP, soldiers were certified or trained on unit movement operations, pallet building, and the proper handling of hazardous materials. The exercise also tested the ability of Army South staff to support the deployment of the command post.

“We had to have folks go through and pick up their weapons, do the sustained readiness program (SRP), do all those activities that are required for deployment,” said Lt. Col. Charles A. Walters, HHBN commander, Army South. “For the headquarters battalion, it was a good learning experience for us. I think we made the process better.”

The purpose of any training exercise is to prepare or be prepared for deployment. This deployment exercise was no different. Army South soldiers were given a similar scenario to the actual Operation Unified Response deployment to Haiti. Army South soldiers practiced skills such as pallet building and unit movement operations.

“We conducted an after action review every day during this four-day exercise,” said Otero. “We had our hiccups and that’s the purpose of this exercise, to identify deficiencies and correct them so that we remain prepared to respond to natural disasters and other contingency operations.”

• Date Taken: 02.08.2012
• Date Posted: 02.16.2012 17:27
• Story ID: 83961
• Location: SAN ANTONIO, TX, US