Emergency personnel ensure preparedness during installation protection exercise

By Kevin Goode
Paraglide

September 29, 2011

The goal of the installation force protection exercise is to train the trainers.

Yearly, Fort Bragg by order of Installation Management Command brings together its trainers, first responders and communications and control professionals to test their knowledge; making sure they remain qualified to train post garrisons in 30 areas of disaster readiness.

“Our higher headquarters issued an order to bring us in line with the way that the Department of Defense is moving with the rest of the government”, said Andy Fischer, chief of Future Operations Branch, Directorate of Plans, Training and Mobilizations.

“IMCOM dictates the way the conference is run”, said Fischer. At the conference, attendees are tested either in a seminar or operational format.

During a seminar format, attendees are required to simulate a disaster and discuss the areas for which they are responsible.

In operational training format, attendees actually do a live simulation of the disaster so attendees can physically test their individual readiness.

The simulation that was run this year was a water security exercise in preparation for the upcoming full operational training.

The goal of these different training formats is to make sure that attendees feel that they are still qualified to go out and train successfully in these areas.

After the training is completed, attendees are asked to grade themselves.

The potential grades they could choose were:

• T for trained in which the individual says he or she feels qualified in this area;

• P for needs practice, the individual needs more training or;

• U for untrained, in which the individual feels that he or she has no skills in this area.

Testing the effective readiness of these individual ensures that those who handle the training on post are qualified to do so, but also maintains that they are ready, should a disaster occur.

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