HURREX: Navy Region Hawaii Trains with Ombudsmen

By Seaman (SW) Rachel Swiatnicki, Commander, Navy Region Hawaii Public Affairs

PEARL HARBOR (NNS) -- Commander, Navy Region Hawaii (CNRH) completed a hurricane readiness exercise (HURREX) on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam (JBPHH) May 24-27 to prepare for hurricane season.

Public announcements and training were two of the ways CNRH prepared. "HURREX is part of a Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam operation to prepare us for emergencies," said Larry Sabatine, deputy emergency management officer. "Every year when we do these HURREXs we train a little bit better."

A new addition to the exercise was the inclusion of Navy Region ombudsmen.

"Ombudsmen are a great advocate to get the word out," said Sabatine.

A few of an ombudsman's roles in a disaster include supporting Sailors and families during the recovery phase, coordinating food and clothing drives, and providing accurate information and updates between the command and their families.

Teresa Espiritu is the ombudsman coordinator from Fleet and Family Support Center. One of her roles is to coordinate Navy Region Ombudsman during a time of crisis or disaster by sending notifications to Navy families and updating Navy leadership.

"I let all the key players know that ombudsmen have great information and can help out for these exercises to ensure readiness for the families if a hurricane were to hit," said Espiritu.

During the exercise, JBPHH commands broke out checklists and inventories and executed the proper steps as if there was a real hurricane. Commands also made sure that family contact information was up-to-date.

"Even though the base is going through the exercise, hopefully the Sailors and active duty members are going home and talking to their spouses," said Sabatine.

"This whole HURREX is also a public awareness thing. It is a time for everyone to focus. You won't have time worrying about having a kit, water, and money set aside. You don't want to be thinking about that when the hurricane is 24 hours out; it's kind of too late. It's time for everyone to look at how prepared they are."