Goooooood morning all! Reporting live from the Illinois Air National Guard base for the new 2019 ICS-400 course!

Proud to partner with our Department of Defense assets from the US Air Force.

Outstanding kickoff from Chief Otto this morning as we continue to enhance the skills of everyone from across the State of Illinois.

As we kick off the class, it’s great to see participation from various agencies. Lots to discuss as logistical challenges between DHS vs DoD that clearly extend beyond resources and cost funding allocation.

Learning through realistic training helps concrete concepts presented…esp scenarios on area command.

Love seeing the familiar faces as we continue preparing our disaster responses pros from across the State of Illinois

Group work allows for all parties to contribute and openly discuss challenges they have seen with disaster operations.

It’s rare that locals get to partner and train with regional assets. In fact, in our new training, we get to showcase the skills of other larger national assets who focus on logistical support…like the Illinois Air National Guard – 182nd AirWing.

We close out the day talking about the importance of the EOC and how it supports the roles of Unified Command (UC) or Area Command and all the Incident Command Posts (ICPs) in the field.

Sharing the importance of good situational awareness and a common operating picture is critical in the success of any emergency response and the recovery of the community.

We often find that communities successfully recovery after a disaster much quicker if they are better prepared and exercise their plans…..yep, that’s called community resilience.

Proud to share our response successes with all of our participants from across the State of Illinois.

More tomorrow!

@rusnivek