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Anchorage, Alaska — The National Guard’s “Always Ready, Always There” motto symbolizes their vigilant presence across the nation. In Alaska, where natural disasters like earthquakes pose significant threats, a prompt and coordinated response is paramount.
Exercise Vigilant Guard 2024-2, held from March 4-8, assessed the readiness of the Alaska National Guard and its partner agencies for such crises.
VG 24-2 simulated a massive 9.2-magnitude earthquake with the epicenter in Southcentral Alaska located in Prince William Sound, the same area as the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake. Approximately 350 participants from local, state and federal organizations, both from Alaska and out of state worked together to reinforce cohesive partnerships and preparedness in a joint, interagency environment.
“The more players, the more interagency coordination we can get, the better we can practice,” said Brig. Gen. Kenneth Radford, director of the Alaska National Guard Joint Staff and dual status commander for the exercise. “We have a plan on how we think we’ll respond, but you never know how things are going to play out, until the real even happens.”
The scenarios were executed over five days, as damaged infrastructure had been reported in the Municipality of Anchorage, City of Cordova, City of Valdez, and throughout the Kenai Peninsula Borough. The simulated earthquake also triggered Tsunami waves in Cordova, Valdez and KPB.
The simulation included the State Emergency Operation Center being activated, and the Alaska National Guard stood up the AKNG Joint Operations Center to aid in relief efforts across the state with personnel from the Alaska Organized Militia.
The Alaska Organized Militia consists of the Alaska Army National Guard, Alaska Air National Guard, Alaska Naval Militia, Alaska State Defense Force and Alaska Civil Air Patrol.
During natural disasters, National Guard units help supplement first responders and civilian law enforcement in several ways. The AKNG JOC tasked AKOM servicemembers into the heat of the relief effort to conduct aerial surveillance, delivery of medical supplies and food, patient transport, rescue missions and more.
In Cordova, National Guardsmen from Alaska and Maine tested their real-world capabilities employing the Disaster Relief Beddown System. The DRBS is a rapid deployable sustainable and expandable beddown system capable of housing up to 150 military and first responders during emergencies. The Alaska Air National Guard’s 176th Wing is home to Alaska’s first DRBS and is a new capability for the state to utilize.
“Snow clearing, frozen ground and transporting the system are some unique challenges we faced in this exercise, but the value of doing it in this environment is we’ll be adequately prepared in the future to mitigate those obstacles,” said Tech Sgt. Paul Carter, a generator mechanic assigned to the AKANG’s 176th Civil Engineer Squadron. “I’ve enjoyed working with our local partners in the community and fellow Guardsmen from out of state.”
The DRBS kit is designed to be paired with a Expandable Single Pallet Expeditionary Kitchen or E-SPEK. The E-SPEK kitchen was employed in the field and run by airmen from 176th Force Support Squadron.
“Disasters like this bring a lot of chaos and you don’t often know what to expect,” said Staff Sgt. Kua Xiong, a culinary specialist assigned to the 176th Force Support Squadron. “Our goal is to make life easier for those affected by disasters like this and get them fed.”
During VG 24-2, the AKNG brought in contractors from ATSsim Media to emulate a realistic media landscape for crisis communication. ATSsim Media is a platform that replicates social media, blogging, video sharing sites and traditional media. This realistic media training tool helped Alaska National Guard senior leadership and public affairs Guardsmen enhance information operations and public messaging training.
VG 24 took a multi-faceted approach to tackling some of the state’s biggest hurdles in disaster relief and culminated in each branch and department having a better understanding of what their role is and how to communicate effectively through crisis.
“We will be prepared to take care of Alaskans on their worst day,” said Radford. Our goal for this exercise was to prepare to be ready to respond when the state needs us to ease suffering and take care of Alaskans in a whole-of-state approach. This takes a team effort.”
| Date Taken: | 03.12.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 03.12.2024 20:11 |
| Story ID: | 466020 |
| Location: | AK, US |
| Web Views: | 53 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Vigilant Guard 2024-2: AKNG game plans for Alaska’s worst day, by SSG Seth LaCount, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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