Subscribe
CAMP BLANDING JOINT TRAINING CENTER, Fla. - Lt. Gen. Joseph Lengyel, vice chief of the National Guard Bureau, visited Florida's Camp Blanding Joint Training Center to view operation Vigilant Guard 2013.
“Vigilant Guard - Florida 2013” - hosted by the Florida National Guard at Camp Blanding Joint Training Center, the National Guard’s premier training site in North-Central Florida - is a national level emergency response exercise sponsored by the U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM), May 17-23. Nearly 2,100 state, local and federal personnel are participating. The exercise provides state National Guards an opportunity to improve cooperation and relationships with regional civilian, military and federal partners in preparation for emergencies and catastrophic events.
"The key to success in dealing with a contingency is unity of effort. The role that we play in the National Guard to help first responders in a civil support scenario is crucial to what we do, and what separates us, in the National Guard," said Lengyel.
During the two-hour tour of various sites including a hazardous material spill, decontamination area and a plane crash, Lengyel was able to experience first-hand the training and capabilities of the National Guard and civil partners utilizing their resources and cooperative efforts to save lives.
Florida National Guard Soldiers and Airmen are trained, equipped and ready to perform their missions when called upon to assist in any emergency in Florida, said Lengyel.
"I think that being prepared and working with our interagency partners in a training scenario, before an event happens, goes a long way towards making us successful in a time limit," said Lengyel. "What I saw here was National Guard and our civil partners working together."
The Florida National Guard is an integral part of the overall response to support state and local authorities, and our citizens should be reassured that the Florida National Guard is carrying out a well-established plan to ensure the safety and well-being of our citizens. Maj. Gen. James Tyre, the assistant adjutant general of the Florida Army National Guard, led the operation as a dual-status commander being called on to defend the country against enemies abroad, or to protect lives and property here at home in times of local emergency.
"I think that having a general officer as the dual status commander is fabulous; it's the answer to a long-term problem of blending all the capabilities into one unity of effort to take care of a problem in a civil support scenario," Lengyel said.
| Date Taken: | 05.19.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 05.20.2013 12:12 |
| Story ID: | 107240 |
| Location: | STARKE , FLORIDA, US |
| Web Views: | 64 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Vice chief of National Guard Bureau visits Vigilant Guard in Florida, by SSG Christopher Vann, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
