An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Home : News : Article View
NEWS | May 7, 2007

You Can Sleep Uninterrupted...

By Sgt. 1st Class Jack Holt

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The Alaska National Guard is in the midst of a crisis, a practice crisis. Emergency response is what they do best because they practice.

Over 200 hundred National Guard citizen-soldiers are on duty all across Alaska training in disaster response for 2007 Northern Edge/Alaska Shield exercise. In the Joint Operations Center at Joint Forces Headquarters - Alaska "it's more like a melding of the minds," says Air National Guard Colonel John Griffin, Commander of the 168th Air Refueling Wing of the Alaska Air National Guard. "The nation is banking on the Guard; and you can sleep uninterrupted."

In preparation for the exercise that is in progress over the next few weeks - in conjunction with other National Guard disaster training exercises occurring simultaneously in Indiana and Rhode Island - some planned changes were rapidly implemented.

"Our old JOC was one-third the size and in another location," says Alaska Air National Guard Colonel Wendy Wenke, the officer-in-charge. "We knew what we had was inadequate in size and proximity to the state emergency operations center so we took an old break room and in 90 days converted it to our joint operation center."

The Joint Operations Center, or JOC, as it's called in military parlance, is where liaison officers come together in a concerted effort to get help downrange to the incident commander. "These folks are professionals," added Col. Wenke. "Give them a room, give them a computer and their off and running."

The 2007 Northern Edge/Alaska Shield exercise continues through May 18.

 

 

Related Articles
Stressed to the Seams, Alaska Shield still holds its Northern Edge
By Sgt. 1st Class Jack Holt | May 16, 2007
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - "You get out of it what you build into it," said Col. Jerry Kidrick, Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, Joint Forces Headquarters-Alaska National Guard. Kidrick was speaking about the training exercise...

Members of the National Guard's civil support team board the USNS Henry J. Kaiser in biohazard suits here May 11 to investigate a simulated report of suspicious chemicals aboard during an exercise scenario for Alaska Shield/Northern Edge 2007. The civil support team worked in conjunction with the Seward police and fire departments, the Coast Guard, the FBI, and many other organizations to practice interagency coordination in an emergency situation. AKS/NE 07 is a State of Alaska/US NORTHCOM sponsored homeland defense and defense support of civil authorities exercise; part of the national-level Ardent Sentry/Northern Edge 07.
Simulated terrorist threat trains military, civilian agencies
By Capt. Amy Hansen | May 15, 2007
SEWARD, Alaska - The first week of the Alaska Shield/Northern Edge 07 exercise culminated here May 11 with a massive interagency effort to secure a ship with a simulated biological threat on board.Hundreds of first...

Northern Edge Combined Training Exercise
By Courtesy Story | May 9, 2007
Fairbanks, Alaska - Today in Fairbanks exercise officials conducted the most involved scenario of the two week training effort to refine and evaluate coordination between local state and federal emergency response agencies.A...