A tornado strikes down just outside the gates of Fort Meade, knocking out power, water and communication. A bomb goes off nearby, covering the installation in a thick blanket of smoke and ash. A pandemic ravages residents, crippling the garrison and its support agencies.
For residents, questions such as, "Is my family OK'" "Should I call someone'" and "What should I do'" will probably come to mind during crises such as these.
But in the event of any emergency, garrison leadership has to be prepared to handle myriad aspects of response, from taking care of casualties and protecting residents and employees from harm to working with the media to ensure that timely, accurate information is disseminated.
Fort Meade practiced its responses to a plethora of disaster scenarios during an Installation Force Protection Exercise held March 4 and 5.
Situations ranging from a bomb explosion at the Mapes Road and Route 175 gate, destruction of the Defense Information School and Environmental Protection Agency Science Center, and an accident resulting in a chlorine gas cloud tested key personnel and gave the command insight into how well prepared Fort Meade is for an emergency.
All of Fort Meade's garrison directors were ensconced in the Emergency Operations Center during the exercise. Via phone and e-mail, their representatives, who were gathered in a "SIM cell" in the Van Fleet conference room, fed them information as directed from a Mission Scenario Event List, which was created by exercise planners with guidance from Installation Commander Col. Daniel L. Thomas. This information would then generate activity on the part of the directors.
The exercise is an Installation Management Command requirement for all new garrison commanders, said Doug Wise, Fort Meade's antiterrorism officer, noting that IMCOM also requires a full-scale exercise annually in order to "achieve and sustain a robust security environment.' Leading up to last week's exercise, Fort Meade also had taken part in a vulnerability assessment and seminar, Wise said.
While the objective of the exercise was to improve communication between the EOC and the community both in and outside the gate and improve media operations processes, Wise said, it also gauged how well the installation would fare in the event of an emergency.
"The best part is knowing that while there's always room for improvement, there are plans in place to deal with a crisis situation," said Bryan Spann, producer and director of Meade TV, who was a role player in the SIM cell during the exercise.
Evaluators gauged directors" reactions and responses as well as how well information moved through the chain. "The big thing besides the decision-making process is the flow of information," Wise said.
The scenarios played out "improve our ability to respond to any type of emergency," he added. A,A3WeA,A1re not focused only on terrorism, but on all hazards and our ability to respond." "I think it says a lot about the current nature of the military that we're planning the best ways to communicate to the public at the same time we're planning on how to deal with emergencies," said Harry Lockley, webmaster and graphic artist for the Public Affairs Office and 20-year veteran of Armed Forces Broadcasting, who played the part of a local television reporter during the exercise. "I'm glad the planners thought to include the press in the exercise, [as it gave] participants a chance to practice speaking to the press about fast-breaking events." Evaluators "noted a big improvement" on day two of the IFPEX, Wise said. "We are most definitely better prepared in the event of an emergency. Any time you do it, youA,A1re going to get better." For more information about readiness, visit www.ready.gov.
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