NAV EX 1st QTR 2018 NavEx 1st Qtr 2018 - Draft 7a | Page 22

District 8
OPERA
Story by Blake Sasse, SO-PB
USCG Aux photo by Blake Sasse
On September 23rd several dozen members of
Division 15 started their morning responding
to a report of a boat with smoke billowing
from it downriver from the I-30 bridge.
This was just the first scenario faced by
those participating in the operational
exercise that morning, including the crash of
a small airplane, a PWC accident, and several
inebriated people that were quite reluctant
to be rescued from the river.
Metropolitan Emergency Services (MEMS),
the organization that operates ambulance
services for several Central Arkansas cities,
planned the training evolutions with the
goal of presenting Auxiliary boatcrews with
situations that they could expect to face
during a routine patrol on the Arkansas River.
MEMS also arranged for “extras” to play the
part of victims and added to the realism
of the airplane crash scenario by placing
several large sections of airplane wing along
the river bank.
The “victim” of a simulated airplane crash on the Arkansas River
is transported to safety by a Coast Guard Auxiliary boatcrew with
the assistance of a medic from Metropolitan Emergency Services.
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NAVIGATO