An Army Installation Management Command-evaluated full-scale exercise is scheduled for July 24 at Redstone.
“The importance of conducting these full-scale exercises for Army installations is to test and refine plans, evaluate personnel readiness and identify areas for improvement,” Ryan Campbell, the Arsenal’s installation emergency manager, said. “If you don’t find areas for improvement, you didn’t run a good exercise. There’s always going to be something going wrong, that comes with the territory.”
The last full-scale exercise at Redstone was in August 2021 and the scenario was a simulated tornado that impacted the northeast part of the installation, causing damage to the RV park, Fox Army Health Center and several other locations and resulting in eight “deaths” and 14 “injuries.”
“What I’m excited about is the extent of play from not only our tenant partners across the installation but also outside the gate,” said Campbell, the lead exercise planner from the Garrison. Huntsville Fire & Rescue, Madison Fire & Rescue, Huntsville International Airport, Huntsville Hospital and Crestwood Hospital, HEMSI and Huntsville/Madison County Emergency Management will all play a role in some way in the exercise.
“IMCOM will be sending a team of probably six folks and bring in a team of subject matter experts from other installations to evaluate different parts,” Campbell said.
“There’s always room for improvement. That doesn’t equate to failure.”
“The things that we’ve done to validate and relook our many community agreements have gone a long way,” Garrison Commander Col. Brian Cozine said about preparing for the upcoming full-scale exercise.
The exercise is a triennial requirement of Army Regulation 525-27.
“All tenants are encouraged to participate,” Campbell said. “A number of tenant organizations are using it as an opportunity to exercise their facility emergency action plans which is an annual requirement.
“So, once (the exercise) kicks off, they’ll do a shelter in place in their buildings. It’s something that they need to exercise on an annual basis. So, in that way, they’re participating in our exercise.”
According to Campbell, there will be several locations across the installation with an uptick in activity from law enforcement and fire and emergency services.
“Plan for increased activities at the gates,” he said. But “we want it to be as realistic as possible so people should be going on with their typical Wednesday activities.”
Campbell said that during the exercise, 20 to 25 role players are needed to play victims, members of the press seeking information or distraught family members trying to get information from the Emergency Family Assistance Center.
Campbell became the installation emergency manager in April 2023 and soon started planning with others for the full-scale exercise.
“We’ve been at it for over a year now,” he said.
For information, contact Campbell at ryan.h.campbell2.civ@army.mil.
Social Sharing