Whether the participants were new to civil support operations or veterans of real-world missions, all say they found opportunities to learn during the Texas Hurricane Exercise June 4-7.
The event in Austin, Texas, allowed the state and its federal partners to evaluate Brownsville and Houston-Galveston evacuation plans as the notional Category 4 “Hurricane Debbie” approached the Texas coast.
In a concurrent exercise, U.S. Army North’s Region VI Defense Coordinating Officer and Element tested its civil support concept of operations.
Army North is the Army Service Component Command of U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM). USNORTHCOM is the combatant command established Oct. 1, 2002 to provide command and control of Department of Defense (DoD) homeland defense efforts and to coordinate defense support of civil authorities.
As the Region VI Defense Coordinating Officer, Col. Laverm “Bullet” Young participated in both the Army North and Texas events. He said the Texas exercise was the first time that all federal and Texas state partners were in one location at one time working off one common timeline.
“The state exercise allowed us to do some tremendous relationship building,” Young said. “All the senior leaders who would be involved in a disaster were there – the policy makers, the doctrine developers and the operators, all in the same room.”
“It struck me how passionate they all are about saving lives, reducing suffering and helping people’s lives return to normal,” he said.
Young commands the six-person Region VI DCE, which is operationally focused on the states of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, New Mexico and Oklahoma.
The element is one of 10 that serve as Department of Defense first responders during a natural or manmade disaster in the United States. The team used the Army North exercise as an opportunity to practice integrating augmentees, deploying to forward locations and processing requests for assistance.
When they deploy or exercise, the element is augmented by Army North experts in fields such as aviation, logistics, medical planning and engineering. The element also receives Emergency Preparedness Liaison Officers – members of the Reserve components of all services – who are experts on their state or region’s response plans.
Maj. Cole Bricker, the DCE operations officer, said the element, liaison officers and augmentees came together and worked well as a team.
“As individuals, we have our own strengths and weaknesses but as a whole we became a highly functioning team,” he said. “That’s why we exercise like this – because we need to learn and grow and practice. If we didn’t train, it would be like ‘break glass in case of emergency.’”
As the scenario unfolded and Hurricane Debbie approached land, the state requested and received a presidential disaster declaration, which cleared the way for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to begin assisting the state-led response effort. The DCO and DCE deployed as part of the federal package to coordinate any active-duty military support FEMA might request in support of the state.
The DCE deployed its advance element them from Denton, Texas, to San Antonio, Texas. The small team flew with their Emergency Response Vehicle and a command and control vehicle on board a Marine Corps C-130 aircraft belonging to the 234th Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron, Naval Air Station Fort Worth. Once in San Antonio, the advance element set up and tested its communications with the main body.
The DCE main body moved forward to Austin, Texas, where Maj. Johnny Jackson was among those who joined the team. He has been an assistant emergency preparedness liaison officer for Louisiana for one month and will serve as an operations officer on the element during future operations.
As a new member of the team, Jackson said he wanted to observe how the DCE mobilizes, how they function and “what they do from the trigger point of when a hurricane is approaching to what happens after landfall.”
“I learned that the DCE is always analyzing possible requirements and potential resource needs,” he said. “I never realized how intensive it is and how much detail they have to go into.”
When FEMA requests search-and-rescue, evacuation or other critical support, the action is put in a red jacket signifying that it is a life-saving or life-sustaining request for assistance, and the DCE processes it as quickly as possible.
“I was able to get a sense for how much responsibility the people at this table shoulder,” Jackson said. “Each red folder represents that somebody’s life is at stake. It’s very impressive when you think about it.”
Joshua Barnes, special assistant to the Federal Coordinating Officer, was among the FEMA Region VI participants in the exercises.
Barnes said that states are equipped to handle most emergencies; however, a disaster often requires a more extensive response that includes federal assistance. He said these exercises allow FEMA to better understand DOD and state capabilities.
“Seeing more DOD operations and processes helps FEMA learn the types of resources that are available so we can tailor our requests for assistance appropriately,” he said. “We are also able to identify possible needs of the state by looking at what they are doing, so we can plan to provide the additional capabilities the state may need.”
Most often, Barnes said, states request additional medical support, commodities like water and ice, and air and ground transportation.
“For DOD, this usually translates into providing transportation assets to deliver water and ice to distribution points, providing additional helicopter transportation or search and rescue capabilities – things the states can do but DOD can help them expand their operations during a disaster,” Barnes said.
In the end, Bricker said, even the exercise controllers said they learned from this training event.
“The trainers said they will take back some of the things they learned here to inform future exercises within Army North,” he said.
Young said he’s confident his team is ready to coordinate support if needed during a hurricane season.
“Relationships between DOD, FEMA and the states have improved since 9/11,” he said. “And FEMA’s leaning forward now more than ever to provide that presence with the state before a disaster.”
And when FEMA is called, DOD won’t be far behind to provide support the states request, Young said.
“We keep ourselves packed and ready to go, because we’re DOD’s first responders,” he said. “That’s why I love this job. We’re here to help Americans, and it’s our way of giving back.”