The Ohio National Guard has completed its largest training exercise for emergency response. Camp Garfield in Ravenna and ten other military bases around the state took part in Vigilant Guard from August 5-8.
The training evaluates response to several different emergencies ranging from cyberattacks to natural disasters. Brigadier General Stephen Rhoades said these exercises help them identify gaps in their training.
“So in terms of EMAs, Emergency Management Agencies, in the state of Ohio and the National Guard and our other partners who are out there, we’ve all found those gaps. And that’s an important message here.”
Rhoades said part of the effort was to understand when to call in federal assistance.
“But, we’ve never requested resources outside of our state. So, one of the big objectives of this exercise is to get to the point where the state has to request resources and exercise what we call the bringing in federal response which would be forces under Title 10.”
He said this exercise was the largest, in terms of personnel, in the nation.