Midnight oil burns bright during VR16

Photo By Sgt. Juana Nesbitt | Sgt. 1st Class Shad Smith (left), of Houston, Texas, logistics communications liaison and Spc. Latosha Smith, of Indianapolis, Indiana, logistics communications liaison assistant, both with Task Force 38, work to identify what food, water and supplies are needed at a simulated emergency shelter May 13, 2016, during the Vibrant Response exercise. Vibrant Response is a U.S. Northern Command-sponsored training exercise for contingency planning and response forces designed to improve their ability to respond to catastrophic incidents. (Photo by Sgt. Juana M. Nesbitt, 7th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment)  

CAMP ATTERBURY, IN, UNITED STATES

05.14.2016

Story by Sgt. Juana Nesbitt 

7th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

CAMP ATTERBURY, Indiana – The midnight oil burned bright May 13, at the Indiana National Guard's Camp Atterbury during Vibrant Response 2016, as service members and civilians came together to train.
“Vibrant Response is an exercise that we conduct in order to test, train, and learn the procedures that are needed and used to support a disaster while working with other agencies,” said Sgt. 1st Class Shad Smith, logistics communications liaison with Task Force 38.
Working in conjunction with units on the ground, Smith, along with his Soldier, stood ready to receive word of any needed goods or assets.
“They (adjacent units in the affected area) communicate with me to let me know everything they’re missing,” said Spc. Latosha Smith, logistics communications liaison assistant, also with TF 38. “Then I provide the G4 (Army Logistics) with all that information so they can effectively get the supplies necessary to complete the mission and make the livelihood for everyone out there as best as we can.”
In this year’s training scenario, a notional nuclear detonation occurred in Pennsylvania, overwhelming local, state and federal response agencies, said Smith.
“What we have done, is pull in all of our resources, set up command and control and started managing the response,” he said, adding that helping to relieve human suffering was a paramount objective.
Although this is the first time both Smiths have participated in Vibrant Response, they agreed in the importance of this kind of training.
“Disaster response is such an enormous effort because of all the separate different agencies that have to work together,” said the Houston, Texas, native. “Merging all those capabilities into an effective force requires tremendous planning, training and preparation.”
Sgt. 1st Class Smith was glad to get a different perspective of how a disaster response effort is coordinated and controlled.
“I feel a lot more comfortable understanding what’s going on and I’m happy and thankful to be a part of it,” he said.
For Spc. Smith, practicing her role in such a situation helps her feel better prepared to handle it and more secure knowing there is a plan in place in case something like this were to happen.

• Date Taken: 05.14.2016
• Date Posted: 05.14.2016 11:08
• Story ID: 198108
• Location: CAMP ATTERBURY, IN, US
• Hometown: HOUSTON, TX, US
• Hometown: INDIANAPOLIS, IN, US