CAMP SHELBY, Miss. – The National Guard conducted a disaster readiness exercise with state and county emergency management agencies and industry partners Feb. 18-22.
PATRIOT is a joint, interagency exercise sponsored by the Air National Guard Bureau at Camp Shelby, Gulfport Combat Readiness Training Center and Camp McCain, Mississippi. It is a training exercise enabling civilian emergency management and responders to work with military entities as they would during disasters.
This exercise tested the National Guard’s abilities to support response operations based on simulated emergencies. Those scenarios included storms that created simulated mass casualties, debris, and the need for search and rescue operations and medical evacuations of injured victims.
“PATRIOT provides Airmen and Soldiers a chance to focus and improve their skills in response to a natural or manmade disaster while working with federal, state and local partner agencies,” said Lt. Col. Sarah Ashley Nickloes, exercise director. “Training jointly allows National Guard members to provide a synergistic response to any disaster. The National Guard serves a dual role, to protect the homeland in addition to serving alongside the active-duty forces across the globe when called upon.”
More than 300 civilians, volunteers and National Guard Airmen and Soldiers from over 20 states supported this year’s exercise. It included National Guard units from neighboring states, volunteer organizations and county emergency management agencies.