Photo By Staff Sgt. Anna Pongo | Dr. Richard Robertson, director of the University of West Indies Seismic Research...... read more read more
The operational leaders and members of the strategic level of Grenada’s national disaster system came together for a Rehearsal of Concept (ROC) drill from June 7 to 9 in St. Georges University, Grenada.
The ROC drill is time-tested method that the U.S. military has used for many years where a group of leaders get together to discuss when and where things are going to take place.
“It is about getting a group of leaders together to review a plan so participants can visualize times, spaces and distances in one room,” said Lt. Col. Daniel Edwan, the Tradewinds 2016 event planner.
Tradewinds 2016 is a joint combined exercise conducted in conjunction with partner nations. Though Tradewinds has been conducted for 17 years, this year is the first time a ROC drill has been implemented for the exercise. It has proven to be a helpful tool which the United States was able to introduce to the concept to Grenada’s national disaster system.
“We have this huge map and be able to move around things on the map and get a visual as to where we are,” said Terrance Walters, the National Disaster Management Agency, Grenada National Coordinator. “Because of Grenada’s size, it’s not a huge country, it’s a small country, 120 square miles. Because of that you get a good opportunity to see what exists and what you can do. So I think the ROC drill, the rehearsal of concept, is very exciting.”
The ROC drill was able to foster discussion and bring up ideas and problems that Grenada’s national disaster management agency and their partner nationals and organizations had thought of.
“We helped them get into the mindset that they need to be,” said Edwan. “Keep them talking about relevant topics that were directly tied to exercise or training objectives and then upon that attempt to get to a practical application phase.”
Part of the ROC drill involved bringing in subject matter experts to speak about topics relating to
“It had numerous advantages,” said Edwan. “We brought in some regional experts on topics that were genuine to them and very important to them such as hurricanes or tsunamis in general. Grenada led the way the whole way. They were advised by us but they made the decisions.”
Overall the ROC drill helped everyone involved to better understand what was happening and how they can be better prepared for disasters in the future.
“I think there are a lot of things that they’re going to take on themselves,” said Edwan. “They pinned the rose on themselves to figure this stuff out. It suited our same needs; to bring people together, problem solve, and see things as they relate to each other.”
Tradewinds 2016 is a joint combined exercise conducted in conjunction with partner nations to enhance the collective abilities of defense forces and constabularies to counter transnational organized crime and to conduct humanitarian/disaster relief operations.
| Date Taken: | 06.09.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 06.19.2016 00:42 |
| Story ID: | 201713 |
| Location: | GD |
| Web Views: | 39 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Countries train together at Tradewinds 2016, by SSG Anna Pongo, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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