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 | March 30, 2010

Florida Guard hosts emergency response exercise

By Master Sgt. Thomas Kielbasa Florida National Guard

CAMP BLANDING JOINT TRAINING CENTER, Fla., - Hundreds of first responders from more than a dozen federal, state and local agencies are taking part in an emergency response exercise in Florida this week, hoping to integrate their assets and skills before an actual disaster strikes the state.

Nearly 500 people from agencies, including the Florida and the Georgia National Guards, are taking part in Operation Integration here in North-Central Florida.

The exercise simulates the aftermath of a large-scale disaster - similar in magnitude to a 9-11 or Hurricane Katrina event - and challenges the participating agencies to work together in recovery efforts.

"The importance of Operation Integration, as far as a training event, is to ensure that we get used to training and working with other first responders from different agencies in keeping with the National Response framework," said Capt. Gene Redding of the Florida Army National Guard.

Redding's team of Guardsmen from the Florida National Guard's CERF-P (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and High Yield Explosive Enhanced Response Force Package), was working in tandem with participants from agencies including: the Georgia National Guard, the 44th and 48th Civil Support Teams, U.S. Marine Corps, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a local sheriff's office, and several State of Florida emergency response groups.

"In a real world incident this is really going to help us out," Redding said. "The saying in the response community goes: 'You don't want to trade business cards on the scene of a real-world incident.' So if we're familiar with how each agency works, if we can put faces with names (and) establish those relationships, it's only going to make our response effort that much more efficient."

The Operation Integration scenario simulates multiple improvised explosive attacks on two different areas of a large metropolitan city, and requires a collective response from all the participating agencies.

According to the scenario, the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office initially responds to the incident and serves as the incident command, and requests the follow-on response. The response includes everything from technical search-and-extraction, to mass decontamination and medical triage of civilians.

On March 25, Florida National Guard CERF-P members were practicing those urban search-and-extraction techniques on massive piles of rubble on the west side of Camp Blanding.

Under supervision by a team of safety experts contracted for the exercise, the Guardsmen were practicing cutting through metal walls with torches and breaking up chunks of cement - obstacles typically found during extraction missions.

"Training is valuable, regardless of when and where you do it," said John McLoughlin, one of the contracted instructors for the exercise and a captain with Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue. "But to get a multi-agency training scenario…is an invaluable practice for the real thing."

Florida Army National Guard aviators and Florida search-and-rescue teams were also partnering for the exercise; Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters will airlift the civilian search-and-rescue experts onto Camp Blanding.

From there the teams spread out in the devastated training area and look for injured citizens.

"This is the first time in Florida that our urban search and rescue systems have trained this closely with the National Guard on this scale," said Scott Chappell, program coordinator at Florida State Fire College, who was helping coordinate that part of the exercise. "…It's something you have to be ready for in the case of a barrier island being destroyed and the only avenue to insert search-and-rescue teams is helicopter.

"And our National Guard friends are probably our best resource in that."

 

 

Related Articles
The 111th Electromagnetic Warfare Company conducts training exercise, Operation Golden Corridor in Dahlonega, Georgia, August 15, 2025. Throughout the duration of the exercise, Soldiers simulated peer and near-peer electromagnetic warfare scenarios and enhance unit proficiency in spectrum mapping, RF detection, and alternative radar awareness capabilities under austere conditions.
Georgia Guard Company Leads in Electromagnetic Warfare Modernization
By | Aug. 27, 2025
DAHLONEGA, Ga. - The Georgia Army National Guard’s 111th Electromagnetic Warfare Company, based in Forest Park, Georgia, is rapidly establishing itself as a leader in the Army’s modernization efforts within the...

Soldiers from the 1st Battalion 182nd Infantry Regiment, Massachusetts Army National Guard, and the 1st Battalion 69th Infantry Regiment, New York Army National Guard, participated in the annual Logan-Duffy Shooting Match, August 21, 2025, at Fort Devens, Massachusetts. The history of the Logan Duffy Rifle Match goes back nearly 90 years to the first match, which was held in 1936.
Massachusetts, New York Guard Members Compete in Historic Logan-Duffy Rifle Competition
By Sgt. 1st Class Steven Eaton,   | Aug. 27, 2025
DEVENS, Mass. – Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 182nd Infantry Regiment, Massachusetts Army National Guard, and the 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry Regiment, New York Army National Guard, participated in the annual Logan-Duffy...

An Alaska Air National Guard HH-60G Pave Hawk assigned to the 210th Rescue Squadron a real-world rescue operation at Point MacKenzie, Alaska, Sept. 1, 2022. After a Christen A-1 Husky crashed into a marsh, National Guardsmen rappelled and conducted a rescue operation, ensuring the aircraft was safely vacated. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Julia Lebens)
Alaska Air Guard Rescues Individual With Facial Laceration Near Knik Glacier
By Alejandro Pena, | Aug. 27, 2025
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska — Alaska Air National Guard members with the 176th Wing rescued an individual with a facial laceration Aug. 25, about 40 miles northeast of Anchorage in the vicinity of Knik Glacier.The...