Exercise prepares wing for natural disaster Published June 22, 2010 By Connie Hempel 17th Training Wing Public Affairs GOODFELLOW AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- It's tornado season and Goodfellow sits on the edge of tornado alley. Are you prepared for this natural disaster if it happens? During an annual wing natural disaster exercise June 17, members throughout the base - family members, training students and permanent party personnel - learned first-hand what to do and where to go if a tornado were to strike here. "Readiness is crucial," said Dennis McGorty, 17th Training Wing installation exercise program chief. "It's everyone's responsibility to be ready and to know what to do when there's a disaster and the time to know things isn't when it's happening." The exercise gave the wing an opportunity to ensure that personnel know what to do, teach those that didn't and identify areas that could be improved. "That's why we have exercises," he said. "We have to test the capabilities and readiness of the wing." One of the exercise objectives was to have the entire wing shelter in place for a simulated tornado that landed at the clinic. With a caved in roof and debris spread everywhere, medical personnel had to activate their alternate facility, the Carswell Field House, and get it up to operational status so they could provide medical care to those with minor injuries; major injuries were simulated as being sent to local hospitals. Nine volunteers were moulaged with cuts and bruises for medical staff to work on while at Carswell. Maj. Jeremy Braswell, 17th Medical Group exercise and evaluations team chief, said relocating to their alternate facility was a crucial training point. "We have a lot of very young Airmen who have (moved) in and have never experienced an alternate medical facility relocation," he said. "This exercise helped them gain experience for this type of event and prepare them for AMF operations at future assignments and deployments." After receiving the all clear, fire department crews took charge of the disaster scene at the clinic and started their incident plan checklist. According to the National Incident Management System, the fire department takes command for most emergency incidents. Exercises such as this gives operational chiefs the opportunity to practice command and control procedures. "Working together and sharing resources with other agencies such as medical and security can be a challenging task," said Jason Garcia fire department EET. "Controlled practice like this event helps work out the kinks and gets organizations on the same page." Fire crews also conducted search and recovery procedures by scanning the area and immediately found three victims. Two of the victims were pinned under heavy furniture and debris which provided crews an opportunity to use their specialized equipment - high pressure airbags and cribbing blocks - to free them. "These scenarios give our fire department a chance to practice our skills," Mr. Garcia said. "Exercises help us ensure we have a ready stance with our available resources and identify areas for improvement." Other civil engineers played a role in the wing-wide exercise by ensuring the emergency operations center was up and running, and working with the simulated destruction at the clinic. Engineers on scene had to contend with utility damages such as a gas leak and conduct damage assessment to determine what structural repairs were needed. All technical training on base was put to a halt so students could participate too. With more than 2,000 trainees coming through here, Mr. McGorty said it's important for instructors and military training leaders to show them what to do because it could mean the difference between life and death. Even the youths at various programs on base participated by doing a tornado drill that included showing them where to shelter at their facilities. "This exercise helps us prepare for one of our true potential base emergencies and being prepared is key to survival," Mr. McGorty said.
