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 Missouri Guard units providing flood response along Mississippi River By Bill Phelan
                Missouri National Guard
 CAMP GRUBER, Okla. - In the world of consequence management, preparing for a disaster is just as crucial as responding. For civilian and military responders, preparedness was the focus of effort as they trained to save lives during Vigilant Guard, April 15-19, at Camp Gruber near Muskogee, Okla. "When we can work with those that we will work with in a disaster, it just makes us all more competent," said John Luther, emergency manager for Washington County, Ark. "We're more familiar with one another's techniques. The beauty of it is there will be lives saved for the effort." This exercise, designed to bring Guard members from Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Indiana, Kentucky and Louisiana together with civilian first responders, provided an opportunity for different agencies and organizations to work alongside one another in a simulated natural disaster. "Not everyone here is from the same FEMA region," said Sgt. 1st Class Mark Wallace of the Joint Interagency Training and Education Center, "which is a huge plus, coming out of your comfort zone and working with other teams is realistic because if you have a large enough event, you will have to come out and respond elsewhere." The different regions of the Federal Emergency Management Agency play an important role in disaster management, as the National Guard's Homeland Response Force, or HRF, mission is regionally based. The Joint Task Force 71 (Maneuver Enhancement Brigade), part of the Texas National Guard, is responsible for the FEMA Region VI HRF mission. Its function is to provide command and control to the subordinate assets in combating Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and High Explosive, known as CBRNE, threats. "Texas has the CBRNE piece of the exercise," said Col. Lee Schnell, commander of JTF-71 (MEB). "We are the response force. Our mission is to alert, assemble, and deploy in the FEMA Region VI." The HRF mission, led by units such as JTF-71 (MEB), is carried out by the support outfits trained to provide search and extraction, decontamination, and medical triage services. These CBRNE Enhanced Response Force Packages can deploy within six hours to a scene and are equipped to sustain long-term operations by sharing the burden of response between the states. "The units are set up to work no more than 12 hours," said Lt. Jonathan Ballard, commander for the Louisiana CERFP. "That is about how much equipment they carry. When you get to work with other units you learn other battle rhythms transfer the mission to another unit as they come in so that we can run our 24-hour operation." Vigilant Guard Arkansas is the first full-scale demonstration of the FEMA Region VI Homeland Response Force mission, which was certified bCLARKSVILLE, Mo. (4/22/13)  - About 100 Missouri National Guard members from units in St. Louis and Hannibal joined dozens of volunteers to work in support of flood relief operations in affected areas. After more than five inches of rain fell in parts of Missouri last week, Gov, Jay Nixon mobilized the National Guard on Friday to help protect lives and property from rising flood waters, especially along the Mississippi. In addition to the weekend Guard response in Clarksville, about 50 Soldiers were also called today to help with sandbagging operations in Dutchtown, about 150 miles down river, near Cape Girardeau. "Our Citizen-Soldiers and Airmen are true leaders and that’s why I called them up to help with this fight," said Nixon, who toured Clarksville on Saturday with Maj. Gen. Steve Danner, adjutant general of the Missouri National Guard. "We pick flood-fights where we can win them and this is certainly a flood-fight we are going to win through a smart emergency management plan and the work of the National Guard and some dedicated volunteers," Nixon said. "We are always happy to come to the aid of our fellow Missourians," said Danner. "We will work directly with the Department of Public Safety, other state agencies and local authorities to answer this call. We are going to ensure that we strengthen that levee wall and do anything else we can to assist." Within one hour of being mobilized, Airmen from the St. Louis-based 121st Air Control Squadron, the 131st Civil Engineer Squadron and Soldiers from the 70th Troop Command were on their way to Clarksville. There, Guardsmen immediately began to assist with construction of a 1,500 foot sandbag levee protecting the historic city of 442 people. Soldiers from the Hannibal-based 2175th Military Police Company were also called up to help with the effort. "Our primary mission is to fill a lot of sandbags," explained Capt. Wesley Dickman, of Columbia, commander of the 2175th. "My troops have been working throughout the night to build up the main levee and the side levees protecting some of the buildings. The effort here is really impressive." In addition to National Guard members, city officials, area residents, Boy Scouts and even prison inmates worked around the clock to build up the levee wall in anticipation of the Mississippi’s expected crest this afternoon. The National Guard response to the flooding was coordinated through "Task Force Bear" headquartered at Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis County. The Guard’s arrival in Clarksville was a welcome sight to volunteers who had been working on the sandbag levee since Wednesday. "With this kind of manpower we can really get things done," said Ray Wagner, of St. Louis, one of numerous AmeriCorps volunteers working on the wall. "We really appreciate the Guard’s help because we have several projects that we have not started yet." "When AmeriCorps arrived on the scene we breathed a huge sigh of relief and when the National Guard arrived we breathed a bigger sigh of relief," added Clarksville Mayor Jo Anne Smiley. "Their arrival has relieved us in so many ways I can’t even describe it. This effort would not be successful without them." Founded in 1817, Clarksville is no stranger to flooding and has adapted an impressive flood management plan that clearly impressed everyone who saw it implemented. "This town has been here a long time and I expect that when the waters recede, Clarksville, Mo., will be open for business as usual," Nixon said. Just as the flood-fight drew to a close in Clarksville today, Soldiers of the Cape Girardeau-based 1140th Engineer Battalion and the 880th Engineer Team, based in Perryville, were called to fight floodwaters in Dutchtown. "This is one of the reasons we put the uniform on; it's our way of giving back and protecting our community, and we are ready and prepared to help the community and people of Dutchtown," said 1st Sgt. Haskel Rooker, of the 1140th Forward Support Company. The 121st Air Control Squadron and the 131st Civil Engineer Squadron are subordinate units of the 131st Bomb Wing, headquartered at Whiteman Air Force Base, near Knob Noster. The 2175th Military Police Company is a subordinate unit of the Columbia-based 175th Military Police Battalion. The 1140th Engineer Battalion and the 880th Engineer Team are part of the 35th Engineer Brigade, based at Fort Leonard Wood. The 70th Troop Command is the largest brigade in the Missouri National Guard and is based at historic Jefferson Barracks. y the Department of Defense in October 2011. The three-day exercise featured a simulated earthquake scenario to test the cooperative and emergency response capabilities of all military and civilian personnel on site. "We know we are the next door neighbors, the close ones there, the first responders," said John Luther, the Emergency Manager for Washington County, Arkansas. "We also know we don't have all the resources it may take to actually overcome a disaster in an area and knowing that the military is supporting us in that role is very, very important." There are currently 10 National Guard-sourced HRF mission sets, one for each FEMA Region. This mobile and ready-trained capability boasts up to 570 Army and Air Guard members who will support the civil authorities in charge of saving lives in the event of an incident or natural disaster. When not deployed, the HRF personnel focus on planning, training, and exercising within their respective states. "We want to have a good warm and fuzzy that we're leaving the folks of Texas in good hands," said Wallace. "At the end of the day it's all about the casualties. The sooner we can save their lives is the bottom line."
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