Fort Bragg conducts anti-terrorism, force protection training exercise, Orbit Comet, July 17,18

By Fort Bragg Garrison PAOJuly 27, 2012

FORT BRAGG, N.C. - Orbit Comet is designed to test Fort Bragg's ability to respond to a variety of terrorist and force protection threats.

"The fact that we are conducting this exercise is not intended to cause alarm," said Tom McCollum, with Fort Bragg's Public Affairs Office. "Rather, the goal is to instill a sense of confidence in the public that we are training to prevent terrorism and, if necessary, that we are ready to respond and recover from all hazards."

Orbit Comet is an annual exercise that mostly involves Fort Bragg's Garrison Command and first responders, such as fire, medical, military police and hazardous material teams. Additionally, local emergency management teams from the counties surround Fort Bragg and the State of North Carolina participate.

"An emergency on Fort Bragg won't stop at our borders nor will it only affect the people on Fort Bragg," said McCollum. "We have to work with other emergency management teams to know how we all operate, communicate and what each other's strengths and weaknesses are. This will ensure we operate as a united team to protect our populations," he said.

"We do risk assessment for the 22 hazards identified at Fort Bragg," said Kurt Lugo, disaster preparedness manager for Fort Bragg. "We evaluate what is the most probable thing that will happen and then we train against them."

Emergency operations have identified these possible scenarios that could be considered emergencies at Fort Bragg and different ones are selected and tested on a monthly basis.

This year's exercise concentrated on how the post would control and coordinate recovery teams in order to reduce the effects of an incident that caught the post by surprise. The actions of the emergency operation center and how, when and where to establish shelters were the highlights of this exercise.

During the two-day exercise, the EOC served as the hub evaluating how Fort Bragg would monitor, communicate and act during an emergency.

The Dahl Physical Fitness Center was filled with people and animals acting as displaced victims affected by the scenario.

"After Katrina, it became law that you had to be able to take care of pets," said Andy Fischer. "We've got the ability (at Dahl) to take care of 25 pets, we can also request mobile pet shelters from the surrounding counties through the North Carolina Emergency Management Office."

As part of the exercise, Carl Stahl, the deputy for the Directorate of Human Resources stood up the emergency assistance center.

Another portion of their behind-the-scenes responsibility includes establishing and activating a 1-800 telephone number where Families outside of the disaster area can call and get information about the situation and personnel.

"What I appreciated most about the exercise was the opportunity to better understand the processes and procedures that are involved in working alongside our local community partners and how we can better come together to handle any incident affecting the base of the local community," said Dave Ice, Operations Branch chief/EOC director.