March aces Golden Guardian 2008

  • Published
  • By Will Alexander
  • 452 Air Mobility Wing, Public Affairs
MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, CALIF. --  March ARB survived the Golden Guardian's 7.8 magnitude earthquake with a better idea of what needs to be done when the "Big One" really does hit. 

March's exercise was conducted in conjunction with the state's "Great California Shakeout" exercise, which followed a scientifically based scenario where 2,000 died, 50,000 were injured, and damage totaled $200 billion. 

With base personnel playing along with 5 million others from various public and private agencies throughout the state, it was California's largest ever earthquake exercise. 

"The point of any exercise like this is to try to encourage people to think about what it (an earthquake) would really be like," said Brig. Gen. James Melin, commander, 452 AMW, during the exercise. "We're just finding out that we don't have electricity, we don't have phones, we don't have cell phones - it makes it interesting trying to account for everybody, and trying to make sure that people are getting the services they need." 

When the quake hit at about 10 a.m., civilians and military members throughout the base were told to "duck, cover and hold" for 20 seconds. Facility managers then evacuated their buildings, accounted for their people, accounted for and evacuated the injured to an emergency area, and identified collapsed or partially collapsed buildings. 

Because the earthquake disabled communications, runners were dispatched from every building to relay information to the Emergency Operations Center, which was set up on DeKay Street. 

"As we go through this, slowly but surely, we'll be able to hopefully think about some of the actions we need to take," said Brig. Gen. Melin, while observing the bevy of activity at the EOC. "And if there are shortcomings, say, in equipment or capability, we can go out and address it so that hopefully one day, if and when the real one comes, we're ready for it." 

The general said his No. 1 concern in the exercise was to establish and maintain communications with the local, state, and federal agencies involved. 

"When we walk out of the other end of this exercise, if we have problems communicating between the key responding agencies, we have to make sure we're able to go forward and address those and get those cleaned up," he said. "Because at some point, if it's the real deal, the American people aren't going to be happy with, 'We weren't able to communicate.' There's no excuse for that." 

Once the one-day exercise was over and embedded 452 AMW members wrapped up their activities with local agencies, a "hot wash" was conducted, where key members looked at the positives and negatives of the exercise, based on input from the players. 

"We did a great job," said Lt. Col. Scipiaruth Kendall, Exercise Evaluator Team chief, whose role was to make sure exercise objectives were met. "Everyone had a sense of urgency, especially since we had the emergency operations center and the Installation Control Center located outside. Everyone seemed to adjust to the weather, because it was a warm day. And everyone continued to perform accordingly." 

Once all the statistical measurements are in from the exercise, Lt. Col. Kendall said planners would be able to make more detailed assessment that could be used to make adjustments for next year's exercise. 

"For instance, I'd be looking for how many personnel were accounted for per building," she said. "How many facility managers were able to account for their building damages, and basically look at the objectives that we set forth to see if they were met. 

"If they weren't met, was it a good objective? If it was a good objective, and we didn't meet it, how can we get close to meeting the objectives the next time we have this exercise?" 

One of the challenges in making future exercises more realistic would be to move toward 100 percent accountability of base personnel. 

"We can do that with the military, we can do that somewhat with the civilians - those who have opted into the ad hoc," she said. "But those who have not (opted in), we can't account for them other than to have their supervisors account for them. We're unable to account for the contractors or personnel who are not associated with the base, such as visitors or vendors - people in lodging. 

"Somehow we have to move toward that because we haven't practiced with them and drawn out all the possibilities ... That could hurt us." 

Marvin Tucker, Emergency Management chief, said he was also pleased with March's performance during the exercise. 

"It was a great success across the board," he said. "We were able to duck, cover and hold; account for our personnel; and assess the type of damage we would have after an earthquake. 

"We were also able to review our plans and checklists, and found some areas we need to look a little closer at, and possibly change because of the exercise." 

Tucker said the results of the exercise would be even greater if it accomplished the goal of opening up the lines of communications inside homes so families have plans that could save lives during a big quake. 

"None of our people are going to do us much good after a catastrophic event unless they know that their family is OK," he said. "We not only need to have plans for work, but we need plans at home." 

Next year's earthquake exercise will take place in October, said Lt. Col. Kendall.