Photo By Staff Sgt. Christopher Hernandez | Army North personnel coordinate support and logisitics at the Joint Operations Center...... read more read more
JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Ever since Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands about one month ago, approximately 30 Army North personnel coordinated support and logistics during disaster relief operations at the Joint Operations Center here. The JOC personnel – consist of Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and civilian contractors, who are proactively engaged in nonstop operations.
“This is the largest and longest response (effort) since Army North came into creation,” said Lt. Col. Ricarlos Caldwell, JOC chief for ARNORTH. “We’ve had three large-scale hurricanes that hit in rapid succession, so we had to find a balance in maintaining situational awareness, supporting the elements out in the affected areas and managing time requirements back here.”
According to Air Force Col. Robert Parker, operations director for 186th Air Operations Group, Meridian, Miss., this unity of effort is a critical component of disaster response situations.
“All of us are concerned about the welfare of the people of Puerto Rico. We’re supporting the Federal Emergency Management Agency and civil authorities there, and we’re doing all that we can to bring them back to normalcy,” Parker said.
Members of the JOC sustain full-scale operations and planning 24/7, 365 days a year to ensure all needs and concerns are expediently met during times of crisis.
“My duties include managing the operational center, specifically with integrating all of the directorates that provide personnel to support hurricane relief,” Caldwell said. “Additionally, we collate all of the raw data that comes in, determine who needs to know it, and generate reports that feeds into larger operational concerns to include developing orders and messages.”
The destructive trifecta of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria gave ARNORTH JOC a multitude of challenges that contributed to their overall learning experience.
“There’s a lot of lessons learned; in which, we can do better…priorities changed each day, so we constantly found ourselves making changes along the way,” said Lester Goins, Joint Operations Planning and Execution System (JOPES) analyst for ARNORTH. “Therefore, we try to keep track of everything we did for historical purposes, and to better help the American people.”
In spite of the few difficulties, ARNORTH JOC continues to push forward and provide support for military and civilian agencies in Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
“I personally learned a lot about the Army component and have a new appreciation for them during my time here,” Parker said. “There’s a lot of great joint activity going on with all branches, and I’m certainly honored to be a part of this effort.”
| Date Taken: | 10.25.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 10.25.2017 14:24 |
| Story ID: | 252968 |
| Location: | FORT SAM HOUSTON, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 166 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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