The Indiana National Guard hosted an interagency training exercise at Stout Field January 14, 2020. (U.S. Air National Guard video by Staff Sgt. Lonnie Wiram)
Transcript
(ambulance siren)
[PA System] Exercise. Exercise. Exercise.
The purpose of the exercise is to make sure that our internal SOPs are where they need to be as well as how we work with our first responders. Do our SOPs coincide with theirs in how they respond so that we are working together as a cohesive team when an incident happens here at Stout Field. The scenario was that of three backpack bombs that were delivered by a food delivery driver to three different buildings on Stout Field. Two of those backpacks detonated. One did not. It was rendered inert later by one of our first responder partners.
The role I played today and then in the international guard’s exercise was first responder coming to pick up casualties or injured patients from the exercise. I feel like, for me, because I’m a newer EMT, this was definitely essential for my training because I’ve never experienced anything like this. And if I do have to experience it, now I’ve had some training.
Today during the exercise, I worked in our joint operations center and I managed social media as well as disseminating information to everybody through different various platforms, ensuring the families and civilians were up to date with the most current information. This exercise was great. It really challenged me and our entire office in ways that we don’t get challenged every single day. I was able to respond on social media to a very active platform. We had simulations for both Facebook, Twitter, and website. It was busy. It was pretty hectic. But the key takeaway, I’ll say, is just be prepared and lean on your training. And that’s what we did. And we were able to get all the information out that we needed to and make sure that civilians and family members stayed informed with maximum disclosure, minimum delay.