bile Command Communications
because of the state’s coastal
events in the last few years. The
marine units play a large role in
disaster response and tracking
storm damage. Including them in
the exercise provides them with
the chance to practice their radio
communications with helicopters in
the air.
“The exercise ensures that
they are able to have the radios
programmed correctly. If we
discover mistakes, we correct those
as we find them,” said Whitworth.
For the counties, this exercise is
invaluable.
“The stuff that you learn here,
you can’t put a price tag on it. We
can’t do it anywhere else. There’s
nothing like this,” said Jonathan
Jones, Athens-Clarke County 911
Communications Supervisor. "It is
setting the standard.”
The event included two days of
training, two days of simulated
exercises and a one-day hot wash.
Part of the exercise included injects
that dealt with scenarios ranging
from hurricane or tornado response
to a planned special event, such as
the Super Bowl or a large music
festival. Exercise controllers
paired teams together that
normally don’t communicate
with each other or that are
geographically separate from
one another in order to help
them learn to work together.
“They’re learning all these
different tasks they can do and
the ones they can’t. And we’ll go
home and say, ‘we couldn’t do
this, let’s work on it,’” said Jones.
“If it’s a piece of equipment
we need, we’ll go buy it; if its
training we need to do, we’ll get
them trained. So for us as a local
government agency, the benefit
is just huge. It’s just a great
learning experience.”
One of goals at the end of this
exercise is to help GEMA/HS
and its state, local and federal
partners be better prepared and
equipped for any large scale
event. As technology continues
to evolve, the goal of GEMA/
HS is to help its counterparts
adapt by putting on this exercise
for years to come.
Above: Edwin Whitworth updates GEMA/HS leadership on operations of MCV
exercise. Right: Cherokee County sets up their mobile command vehicle.
(Photos by Uyen Le Schneider and Kelsi Eccles.)
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