Photo By Staff Sgt. Amouris Coss | Lt. Col. Paul Ghiron, the Director of Emergency Services for the New York Wing, Civil...... read more read more
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CAMP SMITH TRAINING SITE, CORTLANDT, N.Y. — One hundred and thirty-four members of the New York Army and Air National Guard, the New York Naval Militia and the New York Guard teamed up for a command post and communications exercise testing their ability to respond to a costal storm hitting the Hudson Valley, on June 24 and 25, 2021.
The 88 Soldiers and Airmen participating in the exercise worked through the steps they would take during an actual emergency. They were assigned as the command and staff of Joint Task Force 2, one of the six task forces the New York National Guard divides the state into, based at Camp Smith Training Site, one of the largest New York National Guard facilities.
Responsible for handling emergencies in the Hudson Valley, the JTF-2 exercise was tied into an annual communications exercise known as Empire Challenge, conducted by the New York Guard, the state’s volunteer emergency response force, and the New York Naval Militia.
The Naval Militia set up and used their mobile command post to communicate, while the New York Guard activated a network of shortwave radios. Known as MERN, shorthand for Military Emergency Radio Network, the shortwave radios, similar to those used by amateur radio operators, provide a backup communications system during an emergency.
The Civil Air Patrol, the Air Force auxiliary which also provides disaster assistance also integrated into the exercise. Twenty-five Civil Air Patrol volunteers took part at Camp Smith while 38 took part at other locations.
As the JTF-2 staff worked through simulated actions, the New York Guard and Naval Militia communicators broadcast those orders through the network.
The JTF-2 staff developed response drills they would follow to deploy troops and respond to storm damage, power outages or supply food and water to residents.
"The more we practice, the better we are as a joint force,” explained Army Col. Robert Mitchell, the chief of staff of the 53rd Troop command.
“The military is not the fire department, sitting in the firehouse waiting for the bell to ring. We're more of a volunteer force that gets called in and then sent out," Mitchell added.
"One of the biggest aspects of this exercise is New York state military forces getting together and understanding our capabilities," explained Army Lt. Col. Andrew Couchman, the operations officer for the 53rd Troop Command.
"We did a capabilities briefing for all the military components so that we can understand what every organization brings to the fight and what contacts we can call just in case something comes,” he added.
JTF-2 is headed by the commander of the 53rd Troop command, which is headquartered at Camp Smith. The 105th Airlift Wing, located at Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, New York, provides support.
The eight New York Naval Militia members who took part in the exercise learned a lot about working with the National Guard and NYG, said Navy Lt. Filipp Khosh, the New York Naval Militia exercise director.
“I feel that once this mission is completed, I suspect positive feedback will start coming in for the naval militia," Khosh said. "Next year, I hope that the Naval Militia can take a bigger footprint in future joint exercises with more personnel, more tasking and more objectives involved. I am very big on exercises and preparedness.”
It was the first time the Civil Air Patrol participated in an exercise like this and Civil Air Patrol Lt. Col. Paul Ghiron, the director of emergency services for the Civil Air Patrol’s New York Wing, said he was excited to showcase what his organization can do.
Within the world of the exercise, his unit launched aircraft to facilitate communications using portable radio repeaters, Ghiron explained.
“The Civil Air Patrol also notionally conducted aerial reconnaissance, located 'people-of-interest’ and conducted an infrastructure inspection and reconnaissance exercises," Ghiron said.
A key piece of the exercise was to understand how to adapt military units for a domestic response mission, Mitchell said.
“Our units are built for wartime missions. So we have to break apart the unit integrity we established for a wartime mindset and put them into pieces that will make sense for this particular defense mission and we have to get them out there,” Mitchell added.
Putting people from all four components of New York’s Military Forces together for an exercise is an important step, said Army Brig. Gen. Isabel Smith, the director of joint staff for the New York National Guard.
"I believe bringing everyone together in this collaboration will better prepare us for any scenarios that we may confront in the near future,” Smith concluded.
| Date Taken: | 07.01.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 07.01.2021 15:00 |
| Story ID: | 400236 |
| Location: | CAMP SMITH TRAINING SITE , NY, US |
| Web Views: | 270 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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