Dates: 4–6 December 2025
Location: Georgia National Guard Joint Force Headquarters, Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Marietta, Georgia
VIGILANT GUARD – Georgia was a no-notice Homeland Defense exercise designed to evaluate the Georgia National Guard’s ability to rapidly activate and employ a Dual-Status Commander (DSC)–led Joint Task Force in response to a complex domestic incident. The exercise marked the first execution of the Georgia National Guard’s newly developed Homeland Defense Response Plan and provided a critical opportunity to validate command, control, coordination, and information-sharing processes across state and federal partners.
Applied Training Solutions (ATS) was responsible for simulating the tactical and information environments throughout the exercise. Using ATSsim Training and ATSsim Media, ATS delivered a realistic training experience that replicated the complexity, uncertainty, and operational pressures of a real-world Homeland Defense mission.
ATSsim Training was employed as a constructive simulation to model the movement, employment, and sustainment of military assets across the operational area. ATSsim Media emulated traditional and social media activity, enabling participants to experience and respond to real-time information operations challenges. Together, these tools created an integrated environment that stressed command and staff decision-making, operational coordination, and public information functions.
The primary objectives of VIGILANT GUARD – Georgia were to exercise the activation and employment of a DSC-led Joint Task Force, validate the Homeland Defense Response Plan, and identify strengths, gaps, and areas for improvement in operational planning, command and control, logistics, intelligence, and public affairs. Lessons learned from this event will inform future refinements to Georgia National Guard Homeland Defense planning and execution.
Participating organizations included the Georgia National Guard, Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA), US Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), US Army North (ARNORTH), and Joint Task Force–Civil Support (JTF-CS).
ATSsim Training is a cloud-based simulation platform supporting scalable disaster response and Homeland Defense exercises. During the exercise, near-real-time force movement data was integrated into the Joint Operations Center’s Common Operational Picture via ArcGIS, enhancing situational awareness and decision-making. ATSsim Media recreated a complex crisis information environment through hundreds of realistic media injects.
VIGILANT GUARD – Georgia was assessed as a successful training event, strengthening readiness and validating the Georgia National Guard’s Homeland Defense capabilities.
For additional information on ATS and ATS solutions, please visit www.appliedtrg.com
