JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- To ensure continued readiness across Joint Base San Antonio, the 502d Air Base Wing will conduct a Severe Weather, Natural Disaster Response, Continuity of Operations, and Energy Resilience Readiness Exercise/Black Start Exercise from March 19-27, 2025, in coordination with JBSA mission partners and the local community.
The exercise will take place at JBSA-Lackland, JBSA-Randolph, and JBSA-Fort Sam Houston and is meant to validate and test the Wing and its mission partners’ ability to accurately assess and quickly respond to and recover from natural disasters, according to Michael Broeker, chief of installation exercises.
During the exercise, affected organizations will utilize the National Incident Management System, or NIMS.
“This system guides all levels of government, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector to work together to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to, and recover from incidents,” Broeker said.
The NIMS also provides a shared vocabulary, and the systems and processes responders will utilize to deliver the capabilities they need.
According to Presidential Policy Directive/PPD-8: National Preparedness, during disasters, it is vital all responding agencies and organizations work together, and remember preparedness is a shared responsibility.
The directive calls on federal departments and agencies to work with the whole community in partnership to:
- Maintain a secure and resilient nation,
- Create an organized approach for the whole community,
- Define how the Federal government will work with communities to best meet needs in each of the five mission areas: Prevention, Protection, Mitigation, Response and Recovery,
- Evaluate preparedness progress and challenges annually,
- Coordinate how federal efforts can work together to support state and local plans, and
- Build and sustain preparedness.
While coordinating responses and building resilience may be the ultimate goal of the exercise, Broeker reminds everyone that safety is of the utmost importance.
“For the duration, safety will be the top priority,” he said. “Maintaining a safe environment during the multi-day scenario, or during a real-world event, requires units and organizations test back up capabilities. This means ensuring generators work, fuel plans are in place, and Primary, Alternate, Contingency, and Emergency, or PACE, plans are current.”
Exercises, whether scheduled or unscheduled, are vital to building JBSA’s resilience and mission readiness, according to Broeker.
“This exercise is important because it enables us to gather pertinent information on the ability of the installation to conduct its missions in a contested environment," he said. “It will also allow us to track the performance of mission-enabling systems such as energy, water, communications, and other assets under trying circumstances.”
For questions, any JBSA mission or community partner can call 210-860-0098 or email: IGIE.Exercises@us.af.mil.