“From a preparedness perspective, from the national to local levels, we participate in all kinds of missions. We take part in about 500 exercises each year, from tabletop exercises practicing communications and coordination at the headquarters level to the actual deployment of ships and aircraft,” Capt. Daniel Deptula, Coast Guard chief of Contingency Preparedness and Exercise Policy, explained. “Contingency response, in and of itself, can almost be looked at as a mission, although it may be part of any of our 11 missions. But that environment can be unique, and having the skills and capability to not only operate but be a leader is critical to the Coast Guard.

“In preparing our medical response – whether mass rescue, hurricane, or earthquake contingency planning – we consider the human impact in terms of health and safety. We may not have all the resources needed to handle those, but we work out plans with our interagency partners to do so. The Coast Guard is unique in that we have many training and evolving relationships with all maritime nations friendly to the U.S.”

In actual domestic disaster response operations, the Coast Guard provides some personnel with basic medical training, but the majority of medical care would be handled by other agencies. More direct basic care often is provided on an emergency basis during foreign disaster relief missions, especially in the early days.

“Those are challenging environments to provide that kind of support, using first responder training. But we work with USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance and the State Department to provide whatever we are best capable of doing, such as helicopter evacuations,” Deptula said.

An area of growing concern is identifying and treating victims of some of the most virulent diseases of modern times – HIV, Ebola, Zika – and protecting U.S. responders from those plagues. That applies both to foreign emergency support efforts as well as day-to-day contact with maritime lawbreakers or those in need of rescue at sea.

“We provide basic awareness and training to all Coast Guard employees and take our cue from other parts of the government, such as CDC and HHS, to have the proper level of awareness and follow their guidelines on seeking medical care if the symptoms are seen,” Deptula added.

“Some of our special strike teams have responded in the past to anthrax situations and have some capability to respond in support of other viral diseases, such as Ebola, in terms of moving patients to higher level care. We are expanding our capabilities to do that on a larger scale with personal protection equipment and methods of patient transport using our boats and aircraft, but right now only have limited capability.”

 

National Guard and Reserves

Army and Air Force Guard units, in their roles as state militias, frequently are among the earliest responders to major emergencies in their own or neighboring states (at the request of the other state’s governor). The most visible of those are forest fires, storms, earthquakes, and riots, in which they work with other local, state, and federal agencies to end the emergency, evacuate victims, and provide first-contact medical care.

More than 365,000 members of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force reserves, living in thousands of communities across the nation, also are on call for domestic disaster and emergency response missions. For example, the Army Reserve provides a significant portion of the Army’s disaster response effort, including mortuary affairs (75 percent), quartermaster (65 percent), medical (59 percent), transportation (44 percent), and engineer (31 percent) capabilities.

“The National Guard serves as a critical state resource in disaster responses and can provide much-needed capabilities to state governors very quickly. The majority of National Guard support in disaster responses is performed at the direction of a state governor and in a State Active Duty status as a state militia,” Robert G. Salesses, deputy assistant secretary of defense for Homeland Defense Integration and Defense Support of Civil Authorities, told a House Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Communications in June 2015.

More than 365,000 members of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force reserves, living in thousands of communities across the nation, also are on call for domestic disaster and emergency response missions. For example, the Army Reserve provides a significant portion of the Army’s disaster response effort, including mortuary affairs (75 percent), quartermaster (65 percent), medical (59 percent), transportation (44 percent), and engineer (31 percent) capabilities.

DOD relies heavily on the Guard for response to a nuclear accident, attack, or terrorist “dirty bomb.” The CBRN Response Enterprise, involving almost 17,000 military personnel, currently comprises 57 National Guard Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Teams, 17 National Guard CBRN Enhanced Response Force Packages, 10 National Guard Homeland Response Forces, one DCRF, and two Command and Control CBRN Response Elements.

“DOD is better prepared to … assist civil authorities in the aftermath of a catastrophic incident than at any other time in our nation’s history. DOD is prepared, when directed by the president or the secretary of defense, to provide, as part of the federal government’s support of state and local emergency assistance efforts, capabilities and resources to save lives, sustain lives, and protect property and public health and safety,” Salesses told lawmakers.

This article was first published in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: Building Strong®, Serving the Nation and the Armed Forces 2016-2017 Edition magazine.