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The annual Pre-Accident Rehearsal Exercise replicates scenarios of actual accidents, and aims to improve first responders’ abilities to provide assistance in situations that present unique challenges, such as damaged and washed-out roads, manpower and available tools and hardware. The training included patient loading and unloading, aircrew extrication and how to safely operate around densely wooded forest areas in the vicinity.
Army Lt. Col. Alexander Harlamor, 1-111th GSAB commander, was grateful for the opportunity to conduct training of this magnitude and work firsthand with the local emergency crews.
“There’s so much capability when you combine both the civilian first responders and the military,” said Harlamor. “When we combine those forces, we actually bring more redundancy. There’s a better opportunity for anybody who has been injured to be recovered.”
The interagency cooperation is paramount to the success of rescue missions in the future– should they happen. Without the consolidated efforts of both civilian agencies and the military, the unforeseen outcome could be catastrophic.
“This training better prepares us and points out weaknesses that we need to shore up if we did have such an occurrence,” said Silver B. Ware, fire chief for Bradford County.
Matthew Maloney, training captain for Bradford County Emergency Services, believes that this training is integral for assessing their capabilities when working with the military.
“It’s key to do anything like this, simply because it’s a high stakes incident,” said Maloney. “I think it’s key and paramount to work together on something like this, so that if anything were to occur, then we would do the best job.”
This year’s training added the element of darkness. In the past, an exercise like this could have proven more difficult if it were not for the help of night vision goggles, infrared lights and the combined efforts of all those involved in locating and retrieving distressed personnel.
“I think that doing a nighttime operation added more to it,” said Maloney. “A little bit more stress, a little bit more of a challenge, and I think that’s what we’re looking for.”
The success of this training is evident with the process of a joint effort that allows different perspectives and coming together for a solution that mitigates loss of life. After the group held an after action review, they identified what should be sustained and areas of improvement for next year’s exercise.
| Date Taken: | 04.24.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 04.24.2018 16:35 |
| Story ID: | 274313 |
| Location: | CAMP BLANDING, FL, US |
| Web Views: | 52 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Night Owls forging alliances, by SSG Christopher Vann, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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