Photo By Staff Sgt. Aaron Moreno | Guardsmen with the Joint Task Force 71 support local and civil authorities during the...... read more read more
EL CAMPO, Texas — The soldiers of the Joint Task Force 71 received the activation call at 3:45 a.m. following the alleged terrorist incident. Within two hours, the men and women of the minuteman brigade reported to their home station, prepared to travel more than 200 miles in response to that threat. Trained and prepared, they exercised their newly certified skill sets to support the citizens and civil agencies of the small town of El Campo.
Although the immediate reaction of this Army National Guard Unit was real, the scenario was simulated. On March 3, 2012, the Austin-based JTF 71 participated in the El Campo Memorial Hospital Exercise, a joint, interagency training event testing the alert and response capabilities of the Guard and its civil partners.
"Things have gone remarkable smooth today," said Chief Terry Stanhill of the El Campo Police Department. "Communications were outstanding; resources rolled in at an unbelievable rate."
The ECMH Exercise included simulations for a hazardous material attack, an explosion and partial hospital collapse and a remote-site suspicious package incident.
"We need to make sure that everyone understands," said Officer Erik Burse, a state trooper with the Department of Public Safety. "If we don’t do these drills, if we don’t practice to be perfect, then we are not doing what we are supposed to be doing."
In any emergency scenario, the clock begins once the first call alerts the soldiers to action. For the ECMH Exercise, this happened well-before sunrise, far from the incident site.
"This is the first time we did a no-notice training event," said 2nd Lt. Brandon Wells, a platoon leader for 436 Chemical Detachment. "We all received the alert notification at 3:45 a.m. We reported to home station, consolidated there, conducted movement preparations, then got on the road."
The Texas Army National Guard, local first responders, city officials and other state agencies all have a part to play in an emergency. For the local first responders this is a part of their Emergency Management Drills that are often done to prepare them for a real life incident.
"It's comforting for me to know that we have these resources that can come to El Campo this quickly."
Training events like this afford local departments and National Guard units time to demonstrate their skill sets and share their best practices.
"We work with a multitude of civilian agencies," said Wells, "all the way from TDEM, Texas Department of Emergency Management, to the local responders at the fire departments, police departments. Working with them can be challenging in the sense that we are military. We use military vernacular that they may not understand; they use terms and do things that we may not understand, but we try to do these training events with them, collectively, in order to work out some of those kinks, express our capabilities to them as well as learn their capabilities."
With this exercise, the Texas civil authorities and military elements communicate to the public at large that we are prepared to support the community in the event of any natural or man-made threat.
"I think it’s a positive message," said Burse." I think the community loves it and understands it and we need to do more of it."
| Date Taken: | 03.04.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 03.06.2012 14:06 |
| Story ID: | 84816 |
| Location: | EL CAMPO, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 92 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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