Guardian 2015 Full-Scale Exercise After-Action Report Executive Summary The Guardian 2015 Full-Scale Exercise was conducted from June 24 th June 26 th for the US Army Reserve. All phases of the exercise were conducted from 1800 0600 hours to further stress test the response network, as well as for safety reasons given the heat index with responders in full protective gear. The contractor Advanced Technical and Educational Consultants (ATEC) was responsible for conducting the exercise and simulating the activation of an Incident Management Team to monitor exercise operations. Among other tools, ATEC used the mobile software, Virtual Badge, to document exercise operations in real time for increased situational awareness for mobile operations. A team of credentialed responders from the Pathfinders Task Force (PTF) relied upon Virtual Badge to monitor all phases of the exercise s events. Virtual Badge Control Center Displaying Guardian 2015 Exercise Data
Participants For the three days covered by PTF, exercise participants included seven US Army Reserve CBRN and Medical detachments. 92 nd CBRN BN 493 rd EN DET 388 th CBRN CO 392 nd CBRN CO 704 th CBRN CO 331 st MED DET 546 th MED CO Pathfinders Lessons Learned The Pathfinders Task Force is constantly reviewing its standard operating procedures to improve response and preparedness initiatives. Full-scale exercises provide an excellent opportunity to review current procedures for ways to improve the efficiency of PTF and develop Best Practices for software implementation during real emergency operations. While participating in the Guardian 2015 full-scale exercise, the Pathfinders Task Force has developed several Lessons Learned that will be used in future deployments. Also, while this exercise was on-going in Ocala, another PTF team was documenting a widespread exercise in Michigan covering 5 different city locations at once.
Major Strengths 1. Using Virtual Badge to monitor real-time exercise conditions was invaluable for the planning process in the Incident Command Post. 2. Using trained PTF field observers reduced training time during implementation of the Virtual Badge software. 3. ATEC personnel who volunteered to use Virtual Badge attended a 5 minute training session before field documentation operations. This validated the simple user-interface of the software. 4. Monitoring real-time GPS locations for PTF field observers was valuable when assigning new missions. 5. Comments inputted through the system by ATEC personnel who volunteered to use Virtual Badge were valuable when determining context behind the field observations. 6. Having multiple PTF teams deploy into widely separated Areas of Operations in two states successfully stress tested the PTF deployment model with no major difficulties encountered. 7. Using Virtual Badge to document minor safety incidents was important and will serve as a template for future deployments.
Areas of Improvement 1. Having exercise participants document their own operations with Virtual Badge would result in improved data analysis capabilities for information collected in the system. 2. Creating form templates that are customized for exercise operations would greatly expand the amount of data analysis that could be conducted post-exercise 3. Having more exercise documentation/planning meetings prior to the start of PTF involvement in Guardian 2015 would have been helpful in tailoring the Virtual Badge software to more accurately evaluate and document exercise components. 4. Geotagging off of two different satellite networks given the Michigan and Florida based operations initially caused several small issues, though the IT section was able to overcome the aberrations within the first two hours of discovering the challenges in this regard. 5. Given the unusual start up times of the PTF first operational cycle, there was a challenge in gaining more users as the time was too constrained for the first 1800 start up cycle. NOTES: Virtual Badge was able to time/date stamp field collected data forms, all of which were geotagged automatically with the system. On the backend of the system, the ability to push out Executive Summary Reports assisted the Command with disseminating, near real time status updates to various cooperating agencies. The ability for the system to export Excel lists with photos embedded also assisted in facilitating the action order data as it came into the Incident Command Post on scene in the Air Crash Rescue tower.
Mass-Casualty Decontamination Moulaged crisis actors and mannequins were placed strategically throughout the training facility to simulate real world conditions. Responders were tasked with managing an influx of displaced citizens and prioritizing medical treatment to those most in need. Crisis actors were trained to simulate a response to a catastrophic incident, adding an extra level of realism for participating responders. Non-Ambulatory Decon Responder Directing Non-Ambulatory Decon Displaced Citizens Ambulatory Decon Medical Evacuation Responder Checking of Displaced Citizen Triage Tag
Rope Rescue Moulaged crisis actors and mannequins were placed strategically throughout the CBRN training facility to simulate real world conditions. Several of the mannequins were placed in confined spaces or otherwise nearly inaccessible areas. The challenges of operating in proper protective gear while performing complex operations at night added to the realism of the exercise testing component. Rope Rescue Shaft Harness Rope Rescue Confined Space Rescue Rope Rescue Rope Rescue
Urban Search & Rescue Moulaged crisis actors and mannequins were placed strategically throughout the CBRN training facility to simulate real world conditions. Responders would first perform reconnaissance on the site to determine if there were any hazardous materials present, then proceed to perform urban search and rescue operations. A number of the extrication procedures were time consuming and stressful to responders so that teams would be tested not only on skill sets but also on endurance capabilities given the complexity of some of the rescue scenarios. Staged Crisis Actor Responders Treating Responders Treating Crisis Actor Crisis Actor Vehicle Extrication USAR Vehicle Extrication
Hazard Identification During exercise operations, responders were tasked with identifying potential hazards and mitigating risk to these situations appropriately. In addition to staged HazMat scenarios, responders were tasked with making entry into a clandestine lab and identifying the most expedient route to resolve the situation. Operations were conducted in Level A suits, adding again stressful elements to the exercise components that would allow participants to maximize their learning experiences. Hazard Identification Hazard Identification Applying Type A Kit Searching Lab Searching Lab Class A Suit Decon
About PTF The Pathfinders Task Force (PTF) PTF is an all-hazards disaster response team based out of West Palm Beach. PTF specializes in mass care and situational awareness and has been tasked to several of the most catastrophic disasters in recent history, including Katrina, Floyd, Ike, Gustav, and Irene, the Haitian Earthquake, Deepwater Horizon (BP) Oil Spill, and the Japanese Earthquake/Tsunami. PTF focuses on Situational Awareness and the coordination of local spontaneous volunteers to perform rapid damage and critical infrastructure assessments following catastrophic incidents, followed by door-to-door missions seeking out the unmet needs of the vulnerable populations of the homebound survivors. The Pathfinders Task Force is sponsored by a public-private partnership between The Eagles Wings Foundation, Inc. and Disaster Solutions, LLC. For more information about the Pathfinders Task Force, please contact scott@pathfinders.cc or call at (561) 389-9667. The Virtual Badge Software Virtual Badge is a software that uses mobile devices to collect and display information, and a web-based Control Center to analyze data. Virtual Badge has two main functions; identity management for personnel, and photo-enabled activity reporting for mobile operations. Virtual Badge is compatible with Android and ios mobile devices and is currently available for download on the Google Play and itunes App Stores. For more information, please contact matt.campbell@virtualbadge.com or call (561) 329-0068