ST. THOMAS, Virgin Islands — The Virgin Islands National Guard began the warm-start portion of Vigilant Guard 17-03 here on May 10 with an influx of personnel and equipment moving from St. Croix to prepare for the exercise.
Soldiers and Airmen from St. Croix flew to St. Thomas to establish a joint operations center (JOC) for the impending hurricane expected to impact the territory in the scenario-based exercise. As they arrived to the Leonard B. Francis Readiness Center, the physical construction was still underway.
The Soldiers from 786th Combat Service Support Battalion started construction of the JOC a day prior on the drill hall floor and were finalizing the layout.
"Our Soldiers began construction on May 9th and have done a great job at meeting the layout specifications for the JOC," said Master Sgt. Sheryll Luciana, operations noncommissioned officer, 786th CSSB. "Here on St. Thomas we continue to do the ground work to ensure the exercise will be successful and the 786th [CSSB] as well as the VING will be as accommodating as possible."
The development of the JOC required a joint effort between 786th CSSB HHD and 631st Engineer Company to ensure the layout and space requirements met operational security and safety standards.
"We erected the walls and entrance control point as required, and left certain parts of the interior mobile in case we need to reorient the room," Luciana said.
The 786th CSSB Soldiers completed the JOC construction and continue to build the logistic staging area to house incoming forces as the exercise progresses.
Vigilant Guard 17-03 is a national disaster response exercise being conducted in the U.S. Virgin Islands, May 15-19, hosted by the Virgin Islands National Guard and U.S. Northern Command.