Photo By Spc. Anthony Martinez | U.S. Army Reserve Soldiers from the 432nd Transportation Company “Tartaros,”...... read more read more
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FORT BUCHANAN, Puerto Rico – U.S. Army Reserve Soldiers from the 432nd Transportation Company “Tartaros,” assisted in moving more than 25 generators from the FEMA Distribution Center located in Caguas, Puerto Rico to Fort Buchanan for a Regional Power Mission Exercise (RPME) on March 5.
The 432nd Transportation Company enhanced its unit’s readiness by performing some of their Defense Support of Civil Authorities (DSCA) Mission Essential Task List (METLs) in support of the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Regional Power Mission Exercises (RPME). The RPME initiative gives an opportunity for 1st Mission Support Command (MSC) Soldiers to enhance their readiness posture in support of DSCA operations.
“This is excellent training for our Soldiers in case something happens here in Puerto Rico or any other regions,” said Sgt. 1st Class Kendall Messina, 432nd TC Co. Truck Master. “As part of our mission for this fiscal year, we are training Soldiers on DSCA so they can be ready to move equipment such as generators and other aid for a power outage in case of any disaster.”
As part of their mission, these 27 Soldiers began their morning performing Preventive Maintenance Checks and Services (PMCS) on their vehicles before starting their nine vehicle convoy down to the FEMA Distribution Center. Keeping safety in mind, they navigated to and from the distribution center using different routes.
USACE executes the RPME in Puerto Rico bringing together some Federal, State, and Local agencies and military organizations such as the 1st Mission Support Command, the 249th Engineer Battalion(Prime Power) , 407th AFSB Installation-level Logistics Readiness Centers (LRC) and US Army Garrison Buchanan in order to maintain the highest level of readiness across the Temporary Emergency Power community in support of FEMA, the National Response Framework (NRF), and Stafford Act mission execution.
“This exercise is important because it allows us to participate and collaborate with an outside entity for an exercise on Puerto Rico while increasing our readiness,” said Brig. Gen. Alberto C. Rosende, commanding general for the 1st Mission Support Command. “It shows the competency of our Soldiers and how ready they are to support anything that might happen on the island.”
“This is a new experience for everyone especially with the language barrier between the different components,” said David Bishop, The Army Corps of Engineers Temporary Emergency Power Program Manager. “During this exercise, we are simulating what would happen in the case of an island-wide or partial power outage. All of the forces that will come in here today, would be the same ones that would be responding if there was a presidential declaration of a disaster.”
“What we are doing here is training how we fight, using the 1st MSC and resources that are here on Ft. Buchanan," said Bishop.
Having ready and prepared Soldiers to respond to Defense Support of Civil Authorities is a top priority for Rosende.
“We have to be able to react, and we have the ability to support,” said Rosende. “We have the flatbeds, the operators, the equipment, we know the island, and we know what we can do.”
“This also aligns with our preparation for Defense Support of Civil Authorities,” he continued. “We stand by and have the capability to execute. It is critical for our Soldiers to realize that when we do DSCA, and we train, it is for real. We may have to provide power in the event there isn’t power, and it could become a reality for the Corps of Engineers to come down and need our assistance.”
The RPME will continue throughout the week with Soldiers from the 249th Engineer Battalion performing PMCS of FEMA’s designated critical facilities.
| Date Taken: | 03.06.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 03.06.2017 10:16 |
| Story ID: | 225817 |
| Location: | PR |
| Web Views: | 510 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, “Tartaros” transport generators to Fort Buchanan in preparation for RPME, by LTC Ruth Castro, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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