Welcome to Vigilant Guard South Carolina. Its 

very important that everyone understand the 

significance of this exercise, not only for the state, 

but for the region. It’s important for everyone to 

be safe during this exercise and to understand 

how the results of this exercise will help to make 

us better as a state, region and nation to support 

civilian authorities at a time of natural disaster. 

You are going to see many things over 

the next three to 

four days with a 

lot of operations 

intermixed with 

civilians and the 

local population. 

I need everybody 

to use their 

professional skills, 

their knowledge 

to do things safely, 

professionally and 

to put their best foot 

forward so we can all learn from this exercise. 

I look forward to a great exercise and I’ll see 

you in the field.

Sincerely,

Brig. Gen. Les Eisner

Vigilant Guard 2008 South Carolina

Task Force Commander of Troops

By Staff Sgt. Dan Heaton

BEAUFORT, S.C. - An Air National Guard 

Expeditionary Medical Support team will pioneer 

new territory in military 

medical training and 

education as part of Vigilant 

Guard South Carolina, 

one of the largest training 

exercises in the history of 

the National Guard.

The EMEDS team, 

comprised of 62 doctors, 

nurses and other medical 

specialists from Air National 

Guard units in seven states, 

will become the first team 

ever to complete its 5-year 

certification review during 

a field exercise and will 

also use the opportunity to 

provide more than 18 hours 

of professional continuing 

medical education, 

approved by the American 

Medical Association and 

administered through the 

state of South Carolina.

Vigilant Guard 

South Carolina, based in 

Beaufort County, S.C., April 21-23, is an emergency 

preparedness training exercise based on a major 

earthquake that notionally will be centered in the 

Beaufort area. The exercise will bring together 

SAND FLEA 

Issue 1 - Volume 1

April 20, 2008

Welcome to 

Vigilant Guard

Air Guard EMEDS team breaks 

new ground in Vigilant Guard

By Spc. Erica Knight

BEAUFORT, S.C. – The National Guard will be 

conducting search and rescue operations in a 

rubble pile during the Vigilant Guard 2008 exercise 

April 21 – 24.

The Response International Group (RIG) from 

Oklahoma City built a structure that simulates a 

reinforced cement building that has collapsed.

The company has been in business for nine 

years but the experience of some employees 

covers almost 35 years including some who 

responded to the Oklahoma City bombing. 

“At the Murrah building (Oklahoma City), 

there were a lot of things missing or lacking with 

the first responders,” said Mike Shannon, owner of 

RIG and retired chief of special operations for the 

Rubble pile creates realistic search and rescue scenarios

Tech. Sgt. David Betts, of the 187th Medical Group, assembles an 

electrical distribution panel in a field hospital in preparation for the 

Vigilant Guard 2008 exercise on April 19, in Beaufort, S.C. (DoD photo 

by Senior Master Sgt. David H. Lipp) (RELEASED) 

Danny Atchley, 

a member of 

the Response 

International 

Group team from 

Oklahoma City, 

explains the design 

characteristics 

that went into the 

creation of this 

unique training 

site. (DoD photo by 

Senior Master Sgt. 

Edward E. Snyder) 

(RELEASED)

Page 1 of 2
more than 3,000 National Guard personnel from 

more than a dozen states who will work together 

with local, state and other federal agencies to 

respond to the disaster.

The EMEDS team brings the medical skills 

that would be necessary to respond to such a 

disaster. For the exercise, the team will set up a 

6-bed hospital near Beaufort.

Typically, EMEDS teams travel to the 

Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center in 

northern Michigan for a week-long certification 

exercise, once every five years. By being tested 

for certification during Vigilant Guard, the EMEDS 

team will save $50,000 in training costs and gain 

flexibility in planning its future schedule, said 

Col. Henry Heard, commanding officer of the 

187th Medical Group in the Alabama Air National 

Guard and commander of the EMEDS team for the 

exercise.

“This doesn’t replace Alpena, but it provides 

another option for commanders,” Heard said.

Heard said at the end of the exercise, the 

EMEDS team will turn over a blueprint for future 

EMEDS teams to be certified during such an 

exercise.

In addition to the certification review, local 

experts will be providing lectures and other 

training good for 18.25 continuing medical 

education credits and members of the EMEDS 

team are slated to work through 20 different 

ancillary training requirements.

In addition to the 62-member EMEDS team, 

a cadre of 10 data collector/controllers, including 

representatives of Air Combat Command, which is 

the certifying authority for the EMEDS team, will 

be observing the operation.

An important element of the training exercise 

is the opportunity for the EMEDS team to work 

closely with Army National Guard units, Heard said.

“We bring medical specialists, but we don’t 

have equipment. So we need to work together 

with the Army to provide us with tents to sleep in, 

to coordinate a place to eat and bringing in the 

tents and cots and all the equipment we need to 

create a hospital,” he said. “We provide the medical 

knowledge, but someone else has to provide the 

infrastructure.”

Just days before the exercise was due to 

begin, Heard said gearing up for Vigilant Guard has 

been a very positive experience.

“People are coming together, understanding 

that we all have to work together to accomplish 

our mission,” Heard said.

Which is exactly one of the goals of an 

exercise like Vigilant Guard, said Brig. Gen. Les 

Eisner, deputy adjutant general for Army in South 

Carolina and the commander of troops for Vigilant 

Guard 2008.

“The National Guard brings trained personnel 

from around the country who are able to support 

a community that has suffered a disaster. Vigilant 

Guard allows us to test our capability and develop 

relationships with the local and state agencies we 

would be working with,” Eisner said. “The EMEDS 

brings an important medical expertise that can be 

relied upon in a disaster.”

For Master Sgt. Tina Moore, a member of the 

South Carolina Air National Guard’s 169th Medical 

Group, working on the exercise is an opportunity 

to increase her own readiness to respond to an 

emergency.

“It is an incredible learning experience to 

be able to interact with the Army and the civilian 

resources,” she said. “It is incredible to see all these 

people come together to be ready to help out a 

community in an emergency.”

Personnel making up the EMEDS team in 

Vigilant Guard S.C. came from the 187th MDG, 

Alabama; 169th MDG, South Carolina; 143rd MDG, 

Rhode Island; 107th MDG, New York; 117th MDG, 

Alabama; 158th MDG, Vermont; and 188th MDG, 

Arkansas. Support personnel also came from the 

20th MDG, South Carolina; and 149th MDG, Texas.

NEWS BRIEFS

WEATHER

Tonight

CLEAR TEMP 65 F

PRECIP 0% HUMD 67%

Tomorrow

SUNNY HI 79 F

PRECIP 20% LOW 57 F

Oklahoma City Fire Department. “I 

wanted to make a difference for the 

community.”

The structure being used at 

Vigilant Guard took about two weeks 

to build and is 2,000 tons of concrete, 

steel reinforcements and rubble. 

The pile is bowl shaped so that the 

RIG team can observe and assist in 

an emergency situation. All of the 

tunnels begin on the outside and run 

to the center of the structure. 

This structure will be rebuilt and adjusted 

every night to set up for another day of rescue work. 

“It’s a challenge because the structure is 

dynamic, everything has to be replaced,” said 

Shannon. “If (the structure) is not maintained it can 

cause a catastrophic collapse.” 

The Beaufort Fire Department will be taking 

over the structure after Vigilant Guard. It will 

be available to rescue squads and emergency 

response teams for training. 

The RIG team builds these piles mainly for the 

National Guard and other military organizations. 

“There are 23 structures at Fort Gruber, Okla. 

that are a mixture of collapse and hazmat,” said 

Shannon. He hopes to have another five built there 

by the end of 2009.

Rubble contINUE

EMEDS conti

Battles leave 81 dead

MOGADISHU, Somalia – Two days of fighting 

between government and Ethiopian troops 

and Islamic militants in Somalia’s capital, 

Mogadishu, have left 81 civilians dead and 

more than 100 wounded, a local human rights 

group reported today. “We are condemning 

the warring sides in the strongest terms for 

violating human rights and committing war 

crimes against civilians,” a spokesman for the 

group said. 

PM vows not to let Iraq 

become ‘the new Somalia’

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki 

is calling on political parties to unite against 

armed groups in Iraq, a spokesman said Sunday, 

warning that “Iraq cannot be the new Somalia.” 

“It is a clear message,” al-Maliki spokesman Ali 

al-Dabbagh said of the situation in Iraq. “We 

cannot accept the presence of armed groups.” 

Clinton and Obam

escalate attacks in Penn.

READING, Pa. – Capping a frenzied final 

weekend of campaigning in Pennsylvania, the 

Democratic presidential candidates escalated 

their attacks on each other in speeches and 

in a last-minute barrage of advertisements 

on Sunday, aiming at voters who are still 

undecided just two days before the state’s 

marathon primary battle culminates.

SAFETY TIP

“Safety - Our First Duty

Remember to stay hydrated throughout 

the Vigilant Guard exercise. Drink plenty of 

water during the day to keep your body from 

experiencing dehydration. Watch your buddy 

and those appointed under you to ensure they 

are keeping themselves properly hydrated.

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