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 Guard Communicators Collaborate in Disaster Response Exercise By Tech. Sgt. Brian Christiansen
 CAMP DENALI, Alaska - Greg Wilkinson sat behind his laptop making changes to a press release, one of many that day, in the middle of the fluorescent-lit oversized room. Bundled computer cables looked like blue vines coming down from the ceiling onto neatly organized tables, where they split up and plugged into about a dozen unused powered up laptops. Wilkinson, the Joint Information Center coordinator for Vigilant Guard—a training exercise taking part in Anchorage, Alaska, that sees the Alaska National Guard working with local first responders to prepare for response to a major disaster situation—oversaw the preparations for an upcoming press conference about the exercise. "The JIC is the end point for information to be funneled to, so it can be packaged up and be released to the public," he said. "In order for it to work, it requires effective operational success. You can't just haphazardly do this. There is a method." A public information officer for the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, for the duration of the exercise Wilkinson will be dealing with questions about simulated evacuations and simulated earthquakes, and simulated tsunamis, which is not the typical day at the office, he said. And like other aspects of the exercise, the JIC is a collaborative entity with representatives from multiple organizations that would respond should a major disaster take place. Wilkinson and the other officers work collectively, getting the information about ongoing operations out to the public through the media by press releases and press conferences. In the event this was a real operation, this would be the collecting point for all information to be released to the public, said WIlkinson. Working collectively is one of the keys to success, said Wilkinson, adding that those who make up the JIC each have to coordinate with the agency they represent as well as ensure that information is passed throughout the JIC. The result is that when information is requested, less time is spent gathering the requested information. Additionally, Wilkinson and others in the JIC work to put together facts and figures for department heads so as to address the media on specifics. During exercises like Vigilant Guard, Wilkinson will work with up to two-dozen local, state, and federal agencies, he said.
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