Florida Guard Prepares for Potential Hurricane Relief Mission

By Jon Myatt
Special to American Forces Press Service

Aug. 29, 2008 - As central and northern Florida communities recover from Tropical Storm Fay's flood waters, Florida's Department of Military Affairs and the state's National Guard are refitting and shifting focus to the potential effects of other storms.
Florida National Guard leaders returned to the Joint Force Headquarters in St. Augustine on Aug. 25 from the state emergency operations center in Tallahassee expecting another weather threat.

While most of the 500 Guard members activated to help during Tropical Storm Fay had returned to their civilian jobs, the Florida National Guard core emergency support team continued to monitor weather conditions in "Hurricane Alley."

With forecasters eyeing two Atlantic storms -- Tropical Storm Gustav and Tropical Storm Hanna -- as the Labor Day weekend approaches, the possibility of another activation of the Florida National Guard is becoming more probable, Guard leaders said. Gustav is expected to make landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast as a Category 3 hurricane early Sept. 2.

"We are just entering the historically active part of hurricane season," said Army Maj. Gen. Douglas Burnett, adjutant general of Florida. "Although Tropical Storm Fay did not produce damaging high-speed winds that a Category 3 or 4 [hurricane] would have, the resulting flood waters required a significant state response that was a very good tune-up for our emergency response team.

"The public got to see the National Guard at work -- Guard-members and vehicles moving from armories to affected communities, providing assistance to people in distress," he said.

The Guard continuously reviews its mix of personnel to ensure the right skills are placed at the right location, along with the right number of troops to do the tasks, he explained. These "after-action" assessments ensure the troops not needed are released from state active duty so they can return to their families, jobs and educational institutions.

"We are able meet our mission requirements by preparing sufficient numbers of Guardsmen to meet any anticipated weather event," Burnett said. "We have a great deal of recent experience and know that when one weather event has passed, we could have another on the horizon. It is critical to our long term success to have enough capable people available who are also rested and motivated."

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has ensured that the Florida National Guard and its leaders are included in all executive-level planning for emergencies. For Tropical Storm Fay, he declared a state of emergency for Florida, signing an executive order three days before the storm made landfall.

"The reason we do that is to be able to cooperate with state agencies and local authorities," Crist said Aug. 17, during his initial news conference for Tropical Storm Fay.

Guard leaders say they're committed to one primary task: ensuring the Florida National Guard adequately supports agencies directly responsible for taking care of Florida citizens. To accomplish this mission, the Florida National Guard has more than 9,000 soldiers and airmen available who can respond to various emergencies in Florida, including efforts to deter terrorist-related activities.

"The Guard has continuous contact and coordination with the Florida Division of Emergency Management in Tallahassee, and our joint emergency operations center and planning cells ensure the capability to rapidly build-up personnel and equipment if needed," Army Lt. Col. Ron Tittle, the Guard's chief spokesman, said. "We have extensive experience in responding to emergencies."

Florida National Guard soldiers and airmen are trained and equipped for a wide range of life support, security and public safety missions, he said.

Additional personnel and equipment can be mobilized quickly from other states if needed. The Florida National Guard can also request additional personnel and resources from other states through the National Guard Bureau, as part of the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, Tittle explained.

(Jon Myatt works for the Florida Department of Military Affairs.)

'Hurricane Herb' Gives Florida Guard Disaster-Response Test

By Tech. Sgt. Thomas Kielbasa
Special to American Forces Press Service

June 3, 2008 - Just days into the 2008 hurricane season, the Florida Department of Military Affairs and Florida National Guard are actively preparing in case a devastating storm strikes the state this year. In cooperation with the State Emergency Response Team, members of the Department of Military Affairs and the Florida National Guard are participating in a statewide hurricane exercise that began yesterday and concludes June 5.

In the exercise scenario, a Category 3 hurricane -- "Hurricane Herb" -- made landfall the afternoon of June 1 near Cedar Key, on Florida's west coast, and moved across the state and into Georgia. As in previous hurricanes, the storm tore through the state causing massive power outages and extensive flooding and affecting more than a half million Floridians.

In a real-life emergency, the National Guard would move equipment and forces as requested by state officials, but the Hurricane Herb exercise involves only simulated military emergency operations across the state coordinated from the Florida National Guard's Joint Operations Center at the Robert Ensslin Armory, in St. Augustine.

"We test all of our different systems and make sure everything is in order," Army Col. William Beiswenger, director of operations for the Florida National Guard, said yesterday. "This is being done throughout the state from the local first responders and local city levels, all the way up through the State Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee. We also have participants from National Guard Bureau."

Beiswenger noted that, although the past two hurricane seasons have been relatively uneventful for the Florida National Guard, the organization continues to prepare for the "worst-case scenarios" during training.

"We train as though we're going to have the worst hurricane tomorrow," he explained. "We've got to train that way. ... We can't be too complacent."

The majority of yesterday's activity at the Guard's Joint Operations Center included reviewing operations plans and briefings on storm damage, and determining how the National Guard would deploy forces in an actual catastrophe.

During a briefing to the Operations Center staff, Brig. Gen. Michael Fleming, assistant adjutant general for the Florida Army National Guard, praised the exercise participants for their level of expertise in dealing with emergencies.

"We have a great team, between our uniformed personnel [and] civilians," the general said, noting that many in the room have been part of the National Guard's emergency response in previous hurricane seasons.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted the 2008 hurricane season could be slightly "above normal," with a 60 to 70 percent chance of 12 to 16 named storms, including six to nine hurricanes and two to five major hurricanes -- Category 3, 4 or 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Scale.

"Our citizens of Florida need to take heed to that, because all it takes is one storm to come in that folks aren't prepared for, and we could have a lot of loss out there -- both people and infrastructure," Beiswenger warned. "We've got to prepare for that worst-case scenario at all times."

(Air Force Tech. Sgt. Thomas Kielbasa serves in Florida National Guard Public Affairs.)