Access control training for Vigilant Guard 18
Channel: Maryland Guard
Date: 09/05/2018

As part of exercise Vigilant Guard 18, members of D Co., 1-175th Inf. Regt., control access to a damaged cellphone tower at Springfield Hospital Center, Sykesville, Maryland, on May 8, 2018. D Co. is a Maryland Army National Guard unit based at Elkton Readiness Center in Elkton, Maryland.  
Exercise Vigilant Guard 18 provides the opportunity to develop, refine, rehearse policies, and procedures to request and employ Emergency Management Assistance Compact agreements with other states’ National Guard forces. Vigilant Guard is an exercise that allows the Maryland Military Department, along with 42 federal, state, and local agencies a chance to collaborate and test interoperability as part of a national level exercise. The agencies are evaluated on preparing for and recovering from a catastrophic hurricane making landfall. Nearly 2,000 service members are participating in the Vigilant Guard exercises in Maryland and Virginia. International partners are presently observing the exercise to take home lessons learned. The national level exercise is sponsored by United States Northern Command in conjunction with National Guard Bureau. (U.S. Army National Guard video by Spc. Roan Bascoe)