DICE, a four letter word for

CAMP MABRY, UNITED STATES

06.05.2009

Courtesy Story

254th Combat Communications Group (Texas Air National Guard)

CAMP MABRY, Texas - DICE or the Department of Defense Interoperability Exercise hosted and conducted at Camp Mabry, received a lot of attention Thursday when the chief himself toured Camp Mabry and was briefed by leadership.

Chief Jack Colley, Division of Emergency Management, Office of the Governor, shook hands with the exercise participants. Many of the communications experts he met were the same he deals with every hurricane season, not in the least during the 2008 hurricane season when Texas was hit three times. Mr. Colley was at Mabry, not only to witness the impressive array of communications equipment but to discuss the objectives of the training.

This year's exercise was to test and verify communications capabilities and systems of participating local, state, and federal agencies, military, and industry partners working together and to integrate communication teams into the National Incident Management System command structure. "This exercise is extremely important because it shows the efforts of about eight years of not only funding but deployment of equipment across the state and our capability to work together as a team throughout the entire state of Texas. Our focus is on a single effort which is to provide a rapid and orderly response to any event," said Colley. He added, "This field represents our vision after 9-11. Now you see great success out here."

The Chief of the Joint Staff, Col. Connie McNabb, joined Chief Colley and followed the briefing provided by Col. Kevin Turnbo, J6/Chief Information Officer. Colonel Turnbo explained that the exercise consisted of five phases, including check-in, staging and training, and the break down and after-action report.

This year's training scenario called for a threat to the Texas Coast and assembly of Task Force Jack. Wednesday and Thursday represented the period when threat cones narrowed and loss of communication occurred with the landfall of a category 3-4 hurricane with multiple spin-off storms. The devastation was across multiple jurisdictions and loss of communications ensued resulting in difficulty reporting damage through traditional channels. The interoperability between the operators was stressed and tested and the need for additional command control centers identified. "The after-action reports resulting from this training should prove invaluable to operators during the coming hurricane season," said Col. Turnbo.

• Date Taken: 06.05.2009
• Date Posted: 06.17.2009 10:35
• Story ID: 35232
• Location: CAMP MABRY, US