Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Gregory Williams | National Incident Management System Course students discuss where to place an...... read more read more
VIPAVA, Slovenia - How do you fight an enemy that cannot be hurt by any bullet or missile? We know that earthquakes cannot be shot or flood waters flanked by a squad. When soldiers respond to a natural disaster the mission is to preserve life. On a small base in Vipava below an old castle, soldiers learned that the war is not with their fellow man, but Mother Nature itself.
More than 150 multi-nationals completed Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and medical response courses during exercise Immediate Response 14 in Slovenian Armed Forces Base Vipava on Aug. 20, 2014.
During exercise Immediate Response 14, instructors worked to equip their students with the tools on how to combat natural disasters and taught life saving medical procedures.
“The structure of the classes is just not about information sharing and networking, but understanding how other nations solve problems and utilize their resources,” Capt. Michael J. O’Neil, a FEMA course instructor with the 353rd Civil Affairs Command said. “Some of the nations are here because they are looking for guidance on what they can take back to their command while others are looking for recommendations on how to start a relief program.”
O’ Neil taught the Incident Command System and National Incident Management System courses to soldiers from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Denmark, Macedonia, and Slovenia while helping to broaden the mentality of U.S. Soldiers and Marines. He said even though everyone is a part of the military not all protocols are the same.
“There are challenges that we’ve always encountered when it comes to language barriers and understanding how each nation approaches the mission differently,” O’Neil said. “Some might notice that a nation might go through the military making decision process before they proceed while others might do what’s necessary immediately to preserve life and then work on solutions.”
Half of the multi-national participants attended FEMA courses over the course of 72 hours, while the other half took the Slovenian Combat Life Saver Course, attended a Slovenian Tactical Combat Care class, and exchanged injury stabilization techniques with U.S. Air Force Paramedics.
Staff Sgt. Jurij Ker, a combat life saver course instructor with the 10th Infantry Battalion, Slovenian Armed Forces said this exercise is a benefit to Slovenian soldiers and multi-nationals because every nation is exchanging medical techniques.
“Medicine is always evolving all the time," Ker said. “It’s not like we’re always going to stick to the same protocol because if something doesn’t work we have to change it. “Right now we’re looking at changing the way we help civilians because our enemy is not physical, but are natural disasters.”
Ker said exercise IR 14 is not only important to interagency cooperation, but it’s important in helping the Slovenian Army stabilize the region as the Army looks to evolve as the climate changes.
“Many of our Soldiers don’t get a lot of chances to train in environments or exercises like this where we cooperate with U.S. Soldiers and other nations who’ve dealt with disasters,” Ker said. “In the past the Slovenian Army helped with disasters in the Balkan region and when we had problems with storms the U.S. helped us so it’s all about cooperation.”
As the exercise progresses into the field training next week, Soldiers from each country hope to not only demonstrate what they’ve learned in the classroom, but also hone the skills they’ve acquired in order to strengthen their respective armies capabilities. The question isn’t are they prepared, but how prepared are they to battle the elements?
| Date Taken: | 08.20.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 08.21.2014 08:09 |
| Story ID: | 140011 |
| Location: | VIPAVA, SI |
| Web Views: | 96 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Soldiers learn how to battle natural disasters during exercise, by SFC Gregory Williams, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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