Hurricane Exercise Tests Guard Readiness

Story and photos by Pfc. Adam Dean
Georgia National Guard
Public Affairs Office

ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Mar. 10, 2007- Elements of the Georgia Air and Army National Guard teamed up here and at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta with members of Georgia's State Defense Force to face Hurricane Sierra, a fictitious storm created by the Georgia Department of Defense to judge the rapid response capabilities of the Guard in the event of a major hurricane.

At Robins, facilities of the 116th Air Control Wing served as a Reception Staging Onward Movement and Integration (RSOI) site where Guardsmen geared up before deploying to carryout their assigned missions.

The early stages of such a mobilization were simulated to include personnel,medical and dental processing, communications link-ups with sites that expected to be hit by the hurricane, as well as vehicle, weapons and equipment checks.

Army Guard Lt. Col. Rowell Stanley, who commands Augusta's 878th Engineers said Robins makes a sensible Logistics Support Area (LSA) because of its central location.

"Part of our purpose here is to validate the site, and to make sure that it meets all of our requirements," said Stanley. "The other is to see how quickly we can get personnel through the RSOI, and then determine from the feed back we get what we need to improve on to make it better for the real thing."

Nearly 500 Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 121st Infantry, along with elements of the 148th Support Battalion arrived via convoy at Robins, where the 878th Engineer Battalion provided logistics support, shelter, fuel, meals ready to eat, weapons and ammunition and other supplies.

The Georgia Air National Guard provided logistics and communications support from Savannah's 165th Air Support Operations Squadron and the 116th Air Control Wing.

Major Gregory B. Brown, executive officer, 878th Engineers, said he found the level of preparedness high, and credited cooperation between Air and Army Guard personnel with the exercise's success.
"I think we not only met our goals here, but in some ways exceeded them," he said.

Brown also praised the 30 State Defense Force volunteers who performed command and control duties, manning checkpoints and guiding traffic throughout the facility.

"Those guys have been instrumental in helping us. They really stepped up to the plate and provided incredible interior and exterior control of the site," he said

Teams of administrative personnel from Joint Forces Headquarters in Ellenwood were on hand to run the Personnel Processing Center set up inside one of the 116th's hangars and the wing's Combat Training Center. During the process JFHQ Soldiers helped those of the Quick Reaction Force (QRF) resolve finance and pay issues and made sure ID cards were up-to-date. QRF members also received medical and dental checkups and immunizations from JFHQ's Medical Command and Defense Force Medical Detachment.

Command Sgt. Maj. Neil Russell, the Army Guard's state command sergeant major, said the administrative process is an important part of making sure that the troops are ready to go in the wake of a hurricane.

"This is probably the most critical thing we do in terms of accountability for those folks we send out," he said. "We need to make sure those Soldiers are equipped and medically fit here so they can do what they need to do down range."