CAMP MURRAY, Wash. - When a volcano erupts and discharges half a mountain of ash on your state, then you have a major disaster.
For Sgt. Maj. Brian Rikstad, chief of operations for the Washington National Guard Joint Operations Center (JOC) here, the nation's largest volcanic disaster was one reason he joined the Army National Guard.
Rikstad, who has been in the Washington Guard for more than 26 years, enlisted shortly after Mt. St. Helens erupted in 1980. A recruiter visited his school and spoke of the Guard and civilian response to the disaster as an example of how to help the community.
"I was living just north of here, my community was devastated by the ash," said Rikstad.
This week, Rikstad is simulating his community assistance as part the Washington Guard's JOC team taking part in "National Level Exercise 2008."
Hundreds of Guard Soldiers and Airmen are supporting NLE 2-08. The full-scale Department of Homeland Security (DHS) exercise joins federal, state and local responders May 1-8 in a multi-state scenario, which tests their ability to react to domestic emergencies.
The JOC is the Washington Guard's nerve center for the exercise and for real-world operations. The center is conducting 24/7 operations for both missions.
With all the state's Army and Air Guard assets at the JOC's disposal, bringing in both services into the center allows them to work as one, said Rikstad. "We coordinate right here in the JOC."
The National Guard has joint force headquarters, joint operation centers in all 54 states and territories. Each state's headquarters provides the command and control of National Guard forces for its governor.
As a mission comes in, the JOC works to decide what assets of the Army and Air Guard will best support it. This includes equipment and personnel.
"We are the military support for civil authorities, so it's whatever the emergency management authorities decide the civilian [sector] cannot handle," said Rikstad.
Coordinating exercise support requests and communications here was operations Army Staff Sgt. Alice Parsells.
"It's busy, very busy," said Parsells, who was monitoring and posting exercise emails to keep all JOC members informed. This was her first major exercise in the JOC.
The JOC also had Sailors, Marines and Coast Guardsmen working with them as emergency preparedness liaison officers. He said the servicemembers acted as a voice for the JOC in its coordination with other various commands in NLE-08. On top of that, the JOC was visited by three emergency responders from the Canadian military.
"We have a lot of players in the game," said Rikstad. "What's really neat is that we have a simulated news team that is broadcasting at the scene, which is giving us hair-raising footage on what is happening in the exercise."
Washington's scenarios for NLE-08 called out the Guard for a simulated terrorist attack with in Seattle, a tanker truck explosion near the state's northern border and the accidental release of a hazardous chemical at a storage facility in Oregon.
"The Joint Operations Center is here for the community," said Rikstad. "And we want people to know that we are here for them."