Texas National Guard members support local authorities in emergency exercise

By Army National Guard Spc. Aaron Moreno
Joint Task Force 71, Texas National Guard

EL CAMPO, Texas (3/6/12) – Soldiers from 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 to the small town of El Campo.

The Austin-based JTF 71 participated in the El Campo Memorial Hospital Exercise March 3, 2012, a joint interagency training event that tested the alert and response capabilities of the Guard and its civil partners. Although the immediate reaction of Guard Unit was real, the scenario was simulated.

"Things have gone remarkably smooth today," said Chief Terry Stanhill, from 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 Army 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," Wells said, "all the way from [the] Texas Department of Emergency Management, to the local responders at the fire departments [and] 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 communicated to the public at large that they are prepared to support the community in the event of any natural or man-made threat.

"I think it's a positive message," Burse said." I think the community loves it and understands it and we need to do more of it."