Brown County, City of Brownwood, City of Early, Brownwood/Brown County Health Department, Comanche County, along with the approximately 1000 Texas State Guard (TXSG) members and numerous other area agencies and organizations participated in the disaster drill Friday and will continue their training on Saturday according to Brown County Emergency Management Coordinator Brent Bush.
Bush stated that the disaster scenario is a large wildland fire requiring the opening of many shelters in and around Brownwood.
One of the shelters was staged at Care Nursing and Rehabilitation, Inc. of Early on Friday. Twenty-nine members of the TXSG participated in this shelter scenario which included various types of emergencies and situations that could possibly occur due to the stress and tension created by disasters and stress such as an a woman in labor, an irate person, a diabetic without their insulin, a person vomiting, another experiencing explosive diarrhea, a paranoid occupant, and one that was having flashbacks of his time served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Volunteers who acted as evacuees learned what could be experienced during a time of disaster, such as losing everything except the clothes on their backs, having to depend on the shelter for food and services, and community living with complete strangers.
Throughout the event, the operations commander surveyed performance of participants to learn if there are any areas where improvement can be made.
New to the training is the issuance of identification bracelets, similar to that used in hospitals. By having everyone wear their bracelets, the location of evacuees can be tracked to help families who get separated find each other and to track those who have entered and left the shelter, should a problem (or crime) occur.
All of the actors in the drill at Care Inc. are TXSG members who have experienced disasters such as hurricanes Rita, Gustav, and Alex and the Bastrop wildfires as either evacuees or as those offering aid to disaster victims. Cpl. Patrick Brenner and his wife (also a TXSG member) participated in the drill. Cpl Brenner was a Rita evacuee before joining the TSG. Spc. Pierce Tomas has been in the TSG for 5 years and was deployed for hurricanes Ike, Gustav and Alex. Tomas stated the drills are very necessary.
“This is something we call can get involved in, fires, tornadoes, and flooding happen and we need to be prepared,” said Tomas.
Incident Operations Commander Boydston is a longtime serviceman having 45 years in the military and has taught ROTC and other classes at Texas A & M University, staying continuously involved in disaster trainings at many levels. He stated that training must be as realistic as possible to help responders know what to expect and what to do in a real life disaster situation.
“You never know what you will face,” said Boydston. “These guys have had an outstanding performance during this incident simulation. I’m really proud of our people.”
Admissions and Marketing Coordinator Jodie Armstrong of Care Nursing and Rehab stated that disaster preparedness is very important.
“You just can’t do this by yourself. We have to work together as partners with the Texas State Guard. We have a great relationship with the State Guard. The State of Texas is very lucky to have the Guard,” said Armstrong. “I want to make sure that with all the tornadoes, floods and fires that we have seen in the last couple of years, we are being proactive and not reactive. Next year we plan to have an evacuation of some of our real patients to be prepared in case of a tornado or fire in the future.”
Major Boerner stated that the TXSG is always on call for disasters. In fact, they are usually able to be on scene of disasters before relief organizations such as the Red Cross can get there, usually within about an hour.
“We’re all ready to go in a moment’s notice. Taking care of the citizens of Texas is our number one mission at the Texas State Guard,” he said.
The Texas State Guard is made up of citizen soldiers, who volunteer at their own cost to protect the citizens of Texas. Because they are volunteers, they hold other jobs when they are not deployed, and many are experts in their fields. The 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Regimen and 1st and 3rd Battalions of the 8th Regimen had members participating in Friday’s simulation at Care Inc. Their members include a very eclectic group of doctors, attorneys, computer engineers, teachers, law enforcement officers, emergency medical technicians (EMTs), to name just a few.
Pictured at top is 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Regimen of the Texas State Guard who are some of the guardsmen that participated at Care, Inc.
Pictured above are Major Boerner and Cpl. Brenner during the drill. Brenner was portraying a paranoid evacuee complaining about shelter conditions and other occupants.
Pictured above is the identification bracelets used to track the location of people during disasters.
