As Regions plan and prepare for different scenarios during their Certifying Exercises, some of them pull from catastrophic and record-breaking events of the past to ensure they are ready if such events ever happened again in the future. Members of Applied Training Solutions bring in software and subject matter expertise to assist with these exercises.
This was certainly the case during the Region II Defense Coordinating Officer/Element CERTEX, March 6-15, at Naval Weapons Station Earle in New Jersey. They recreated the “Storm of the Century” from 1888.
The CERTEX scenario was a destructive snowstorm or “Storm of the Century,” affecting New York City, Long Island, and New York State south of Albany. The replicated storm brought snowfall of up to 18 feet, like the storm in 1888. The scenario replicated power and communications outages and shutting down all transportation in the affected area.
Members of ATS utilized ATSsim, a cloud-based constructive simulation program, to recreate and review different courses of action and scenarios, while working with the Region’s assets to facilitate what the appropriate plan of actions they should take would be. ATSsim also integrates the common operating picture tool used, replicated the force flow into the affected area, and generates reports for the requested entities.
The CERTEX incorporated Immediate Response, Title 32 assets with the New York National Guard, and Department of Defense Title 10 assets. These assets had to work with and coordinate support to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and local agencies in the affected areas.
Overall, this exercise was a success and Region II Defense Coordinating Officer/Element was able to successfully certify and reset to ensure they are ready to support Lead Federal Agencies in the event of a real-world emergency.
As a leader in emergency preparedness training and readiness, ATS continues to actively work to deliver innovative, experience-based disaster-preparedness exercises solutions for local, state, and federal agencies to protect communities.
