Alabama National Guard Prepare for Hurricane Season
After disaster strikes, The Alabama National Guard can be seen taking action to help people across the state. But what happens before, is just as important.
“Right now we’re in the emergency operations center which is the brain of the operation. This is where we’re receiving our assignments from the alabama emergency management agency. We’re translating those into military orders and pushing that information to our maneuver units in the field,” says Col. Jim Hawkins.
This week, The Alabama National Guard members are putting their skills to the test in exercises that prepare them for hurricane season. The operations center is the first point of action.
“We take a look at different imagery that may be used and determine what type of damage may have happened and how we can respond to it best to serve the people of the state of Alabama,” says Col. Alan Cranford.
It doesn’t stop there these soldiers also work with units on the Gulf Coast.
“Down in Mobile we have a headquarters that’s replicating our headquarters forward-that we would have in a real event, down on the coast during a hurricane and they’re taking those orders, translating orders to their units and passing them on to their units,” says Hawkins.
In the case of a real event units work closely with the Alabama Emergency Management Agency. Some units, for the exercise only, represent soldiers in the field n the event of a hurricane.
“It allows each person to understand where their strong points are and where they need to work together and in some cases it identifies weaknesses that we may have,” says Cranford.
“We’re about 23rd in population in the state of alabama, yet we’re the 5th largest national guard in the country which speaks well of the patriotism of Alabamians. But it provides Alabama terrific resources – a large pool of trained soldiers and airmen that can assist,” says Hawkins.
