VICENZA, Italy - Exercise planners are in the final stages of planning for the upcoming full-scale exercise named Lion Response.
This year the event will take place on Caserma Ederle and focus on joint U.S. and Italian immediate response to a number of emergency situations affecting the installation.
The annual Lion Response exercise is set for May 10 and includes several scenarios that will impact the garrison that morning as events unfold. Community members should anticipate emergency vehicles moving in and around Caserma Ederle as well as gate closures and other impacts on normal activity.
"Force protection and emergency management are coordinated efforts for the Vicenza Military Community, involving both U.S. and Italian emergency response agencies," said Jesse Markum, the U.S. Army Garrison Italy force protection officer, and a primary planner for this year's exercise.
Since its inauguration in 1999, the annual exercise has tested integration of Italian first responders, emergency services and health professionals with U.S. capabilities for a variety of scenarios.
"There may be situations of a magnitude where we have to work with the host nation to augment our resources to respond to an incident on the installation," Markum said during a planning meeting with all of the involved organizations. "This year's event allows us to exercise and validate our combined team alert and response capabilities in the event of a multiple incident terrorist attack."
While the drill is intended to exercise and validate emergency management plans, procedural agreements, and interoperability between U.S. and Italian emergency response agencies, it also serves to build relationships between the two communities.
Social Sharing