Photo By Spc. Emmanuel Gibson | Sgt. Demani Schaffer, a soldier assigned to the 130th Public Affairs Detachment, reads...... read more read more
Soldiers assigned to the Connecticut National Guard’s 130th Public Affairs Detachment conducted its first-ever crisis communication exercise focused on hurricane domestic operations at the Gov. William A. O’Neill Armory in Hartford, Conn. June 10 – 12, 2026.
Exercise Yankee Thunder was designed to help PAD members become familiar with the roles and responsibilities of public affairs professionals during a natural disaster.
“Effective communication is a vital tool during any natural disaster,” said Maj. Michael Wilcoxon, the Connecticut National Guard’s state public affairs officer and creator of Exercise Yankee Thunder. “We’re entering hurricane season here in Connecticut and, as a staff, it’s important that all our PAD members know and understand what goes into a crisis communication plan so they can effectively respond to a disaster, should we find ourselves being called up to help our neighbors.”
The exercise put members of the PAD in various roles they can expect to fill in a Joint Information Center, or JIC, which are usually stood up during an emergency to manage the flow of internal and external information. In a JIC, soldiers are responsible for receiving queries from media outlets, writing and distributing press releases, and preparing subject matter experts to conduct interviews with the news, among others.
“For many of these soldiers, they’ve never done any of this outside of the schoolhouse,” said Wilcoxson. “But crisis communication is not something you want to try and figure out when you’re in the middle of a crisis. We’re practicing this now and hoping we never need it, but we’ll be prepared in the event we do.”
While the soldiers of the 130th, all of whom are traditional guardsmen who have other jobs or attend school when not in uniform, are the primary participants in the exercise, Wilcoxson and other members of the Connecticut National Guard’s fulltime state public affairs office serve as observer controller trainers to introduce injects and role-play as National Guard leadership, staff sections, and the civilian media.
“We have a lot of new Soldiers in the PAD, many of whom haven’t even gone to school yet to get MOS qualified,” said Capt. Joshua Pasay, commander of the 130th PAD. “It’s been really awesome seeing how they’ve come together, focusing on their strengths, while working on the areas they can improve, to ultimately get the job done.”
The exercise comes at a pivotal point in time as the state of Connecticut prepares for hurricane season, which occurs each year between June 1st and November 30th. While the Nutmeg state isn’t usually as hard hit by hurricanes as other states, such as those in the Southeast, there is enough history of significant hurricane activity to justify this preparedness.
In recent years, the Connecticut National Guard has activated troops within the state to assist local, state, and federal agencies in the aftermath of storms such as Hurricane Irene, Hurricane Sandy, and Tropical Storm Isaias. It has also sent troops to help other states in their storm response during Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria, and Helene.
“Over the past three days, this team has really come together and embraced the importance of timely and accurate distribution of information during a crisis,” said Pasay. “I truly believe that if our state ever finds itself in a worst-case scenario, this team is ready to step up and effectively manage a JIC.”
To help make this exercise as in-depth and realistic as possible, Wilcoxson utilized artificial intelligence to create injects and social media posts to mimic the rapid developments that one would expect in a real-world situation. Looking toward the future, Wilcoxon hopes to expand Exercise Yankee Thunder to include the public affairs team from the Connecticut National Guard’s 103rd Airlift Wing to better reflect the joint environment that’s inherent during real-world missions like this. And as the exercise becomes more refined, he hopes it can spread beyond the borders of Connecticut and be a model for larger crisis communication exercises across the region.
| Date Taken: | 06.12.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 06.12.2026 12:02 |
| Story ID: | 567570 |
| Location: | HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, US |
| Web Views: | 24 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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