Hurricane season has arrived. But even prior to its start, the Louisiana National Guard was preparing. On May 21, around 50 key leaders gathered to simulate their ability to respond to a major hurricane in Louisiana. Maj. Matthew Digby, Chief of Plans for the Louisiana National Guard, explains that during the exercise, they “…go through all of the actions on the objective — what mechanisms each direct reporting unit is going to conduct at multiple different H-hours.”

The effort involved a simulated scenario of a Category 4 or 5 hurricane landfall in Louisiana. Its main focus is to “…to give the command group, specifically the Adjutant General…confidence that all of the work has been done leading up to this point,” Digby said. That work includes equipment readiness, logistics, and the mobilization of approximately 8,000 available guardsmen.

Maj. Gen. Thomas C. Friloux, Adjutant General of Louisiana, led the initiative. He emphasized that planning doesn’t start in June, but rather well before hurricane season starts.

A “successful” exercise, according to Digby, is when the Adjutant General walks away with full trust that all brigade commanders have done their due diligence.

The lessons learned from each storm season are directly applied to future response plans. Col. Greg St. Romain, Director of Training, Operations, and Exercise, pointed to past hurricanes like Laura and Ida as reminders of how devastating a storm’s reach can be.

“Multiple parishes and communities were impacted throughout our state, both from the coastline as well as our northern parishes,” St. Romain said. “How do we stretch all of our resources to respond in a manner of that nature? That’s how I want to use this exercise—to extend our resources as much as possible….”

Working through the simulation helped give the National Guard confidence that they’re ready to protect property, save lives, and work hand-in-hand with other agencies. Because it’s not a matter of if, but when another storm strikes.

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