Friday, May 24, 2013

National Guard and civilian emergency response agencies joined together May 16 in a training exercise designed to test their ability to communicate effectively during an emergency situation.

Held for the second consecutive year at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds in Jefferson, Wis., the annual state interoperable mobile communications exercise [SIMCOM] required federal, state, military, and local emergency managers to communicate electronically through a sea of different radio frequencies and across different platforms.

"The things we are really focused on are how to establish our communication immediately in the event that we go someplace, so we're not waiting to start assisting the civilian responders," said Capt. Peter Owen, the commander of the Wisconsin National Guard's Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and high-Explosive Emergency Response Force Package [CERFP].

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