Colombian military gets up close
look at Vigilant Guard in Georgia
By1st Lt. Stephen Hudson
South Carolina National Guard
F
ive military officers from the Republic of
Colombia were on hand to watch as the
National Guard and civilian agencies honed
their disaster response skills during Vigilant
Guard exercises at the Clay National Guard Center in
Marietta, on Mar. 28-30.
Throughout the exercise, the Colombian officers had
a chance to interact with both the National Guard
and civilian agency participants. The officers observed
a simulated hazardous material spill at the Port of
Savannah where the Florida National Guard’s 48th
Civil Support Team responded with urban search and
rescue training at the Guardians Center in Perry, and
wrapped up their visit at the Georgia Emergency
Management and Homeland Security Agency and
Georgia National Guard’s Joint Operations Center in
Atlanta.
Colombian navy Capt. Gilberto Duran, director of
Environment, Emergency and Disaster Attention, said
the team touring Vigilant Guard saw everything they
hoped to see.
“What we really found useful is how the Georgia
Emergency Management Agency and the National
Guard’s Joint Operations Center is organized,” Duran
said. “We got to compare the effectiveness of the
system and the bonus of the National Guard.”
The scenario for this exercise was a Category 3
hurricane struck the Georgia coast moving inland,
causing a wide path of destruction, knocking out power
and flooding.
U.S. Army Col. David S. Gayle, J3/Director of
Military Support for the South Carolina National Guard
led the team on the tour and was on hand to answer
questions about the National Guard’s role in supporting
state and local emergency management agencies.
“Having our partners from Colombia spend a week
with us touring the Vigilant Guard venues in the state
of Georgia was not only enlightening to the issues their
nation faces, but we strengthened our partnership,”
Gayle said. “We are looking at future events and ways
we can include the Colombian military in our exercises.
The more we can expose each other to the way we
conduct missions and provide mutually meaningful
feedback, the stronger our partnership will be as we
work to galvanize our cooperation across all aspects of
international civil-military affairs.”
Since the South Carolina National Guard’s State
Partnership Program with the Republic of Colombia
was launched in 2012, South Carolina has focused on
establishing long-term relationships where Colombia
and South Carolina can promote mutual interests and
build lasting capabilities for both partners.
Vigilant Guard is a series of federally funded
disaster-response drills conducted by National Guard
units working with federal, state and local emergency
management agencies and first responders.
Colombian air force Lt. Col. Ernesto Gomez discusses how requests for milita
Guard CWO3 Julie Gamble at the Georgia Emergency Management and