What is "Vigilant Guard"?

Vigilant Guard is a national-level disaster response exercise conducted four times a year by the National Guard Bureau and the United States Northern Command in conjunction with civilian first responders and local governments around the United States.

This Vigilant Guard exercise, the first conducted by the New York National guard, simulates New York National Guard response to a 5.9 Richter scale earthquake hitting the Buffalo-Niagara Falls region. In the exercise scenario, Gov. David Paterson has directed the New York National Guard to move forces and specialized teams into the region to assist Erie County and Niagara County officials in responding to a major disaster that has left hundreds dead, power out, and buildings collapsed.

What is the exercise scenario?

Almost 1,800 National Guard Soldiers and Airmen from across New York, and from the States of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, and even the U.S. Virgin Islands, are participating in the exercise, replicating the process governor's employ to share emergency resources. National Guard teams will be conducting hazardous materials detection drills in Niagara Falls and Lockport, and specialized teams from New York and Pennsylvania will be simulating the search for casualties at a "rubble pile" in the City of Tonawanda especially constructed to replicate a collapsed hospital.