Emergency Preparedness MB question... what is Troop Mobilization and Emergency Service Project ??

[WestCoastScouter]

For Emergency Preparedness there is a requirement for participating in a Troop Mobilization, and also take part in a Emergency Service Project ? what are these ? how to do them?

[RememberSchiff]

Ask your town Emergency Services Coordinator or maybe Fire Chief, Police Chief how the scouts can help with town or area emergency services.

- Sometimes there is a mass casualty drill that scouts can participate as victims.

- Sandbagging during a flood

- Scouts as snow captains - shovel out fire hydrants.elderly homes, etc.

- Serve at a storm shelter (keeping kids entertained can be a big help)

- Serve at a Red Cross blood drive

 

Be prepared. Some might say just stay home and shelter in place.

My $0.01

[qwazse]

Is "Mobilization" some more polite term for "Disaster Drill"?

 

An emergency service project? Sounds like what most 17year 9 month old Life scouts are scrambling for.

 

I guess it's all spelled out in the ... wait for it ...

 

Merit Badge Pamphlet

[jpstodwftexas]

Requirement 7: Take part in an emergency service project, either a real one or a practice drill, with a Scouting unit or a community agency

1. Requirement 8: Do the Following
   
   • Prepare a written plan for mobilizing your troop when needed to do emergency service. If there is already a plan, explain it. Tell your part in making it work.
     
   • Take part in at least one troop mobilization. Before the exercise, describe your part to your counselor. Afterward, conduct an "after-action" lesson, discussing what you learned during the exercise that required changes or adjustments to the plan.
     
   • Prepare a personal emergency service pack for a mobilization call. Prepare a family kit (suitcase or waterproof box) for use by your family in case an emergency evacuation is needed. Explain the needs and uses of the contents.
     

[Tampa Turtle]

For #7 We had a VERY hard time finding an opportunity and I worked with the local Emergency Operations Center. FEMA funding for drills has been cut back so there were less opportunity. We did one but also had a lot of fun doing several Troop exercises at campouts. We simulated several scouts who were missing and hurt. Then the other scouts had to organize themselves, set up a search grid, and do a search, traige, and litter back. They had fun.

 

For #8 some of our boys did an "email tree" and would run a test. They seemed to get a lot of family discussion on the family kit,

[fred johnson]

I've seen this multiple ways. One is to create a mobilization plan for notifying scouts based on an emergency. It was okay, but I don't care for that style because it won't be used. I prefer something real with this.

 

The one way that I saw it done that I like is at our summer camp. Every scout has to participate in a mobilization drill for storms, lost scout, etc. It's written down in the camp scout leader guide. The scout could read and explain and then explain his role in the plan.

[Twocubdad]

When was the last time a troop was mobilized for a disaster? Generally, the instructions we hear in the media is to stay home and out of the way. These days, professional emergency services don't want a bunch of untrained soon-to-be victims running around a disaster site. Filling sandbags is the only thing mentioned which may involve Scouts, but we would have to drive 400 miles to do that.

 

Once we had the troop set up a mobile kitchen, pretending that in the event of a hurricane we could head to the coast and set up near one of the staging areas for emergency workers. We set up at a church athletic league for needy kids and fed them hotdogs. It was a huge undertaking and no small expense. And while it was a nice little service to the community, it had virtually no meaning as an emergency preparedness drill.

 

Our Scouts usually take E-Prep at summer camp and usually come home with a partial due to this requirement. We struggle to come up with something meaningful. Honestly, the most realistic scenario would be for the camp to turn their required emergency drill into something a little more for the boys taking E-Prep. Or maybe we just count the camp drill as mobilizing the troop?

[Stosh]

There are varying points of view on this subject. In an emergency, some say stay at home and others say, help is needed.

 

Every community varies on this, but if a Scout troop is to be an actual asset in this process, it would be proper to approach the local disaster recovery agencies in the area and find out what they need the scouts might be able to perform. Once those parameters are defined, then just showing up isn't enough. The boys will need to be trained for the tasks expected of them. Then it would take annual communication to let the agency know of availability and numbers that could be expected. These kinds of things may vary from supplying bodies for a training drill conducted by the local rescue agency. It might be staffing a canteen for rescue workers on site of a disaster. It might be ... fill in the blank. One doesn't know unless they go and ASK! What if anything can the Scouts provide your agency in some kind of emergency? Once that question is asked and answered, then training, prep, whatever, can begin. Too often the situation is approached backwards. The scouts rack their brains thinking of ways to help, when it would be a lot easier just to ask, find out what they need, and then figure out how to deliver the service.

 

Stosh

[jpstodwftexas]

There are many ways A Unit could be Mobilized in a Disaster without getting under foot of the Professionals.

One of the simplest way is Help Open their Scout Hut or if Sponsored by a Church assist them in Running a Shelter.

Scouters could assist registering Victims of the Disaster..and Coordinating that list to Local Authorities and Relief Agencies..Communications is a Big Help..Everyone wants to know if Loved Ones are Alive asap..Provide Child care..Provide Hot Meals..Provide a Warm and safe place to sleep..Provide ways to communicate with loved ones. Provide a place or way to clean clothes. Set up Bathing Stations..Not Every Hero must be on the Front Lines

[jpstodwftexas]

No Training Compares to the Real thing..I was 14 at the Time of Terrible Tuesday April 10, 1979. Watch the Video, this was My First Experience with a Natural Disaster

My Mom was a Student Nurse at Bethania Hospital, I was In Troop 6. Mom had to Report to the Hospital so I spent first 14+ Hours working in the Kitchen..(after realizing I could not handle Blood everywhere).Then next 3 Days working Search and Rescue sun up to sunset.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxeXvcaX_Zc

[tprjj49707]

This very topic is what brought me to this entire forum.  My son needs E-prep MB. As a general comment to all the above, I work for the state police, and have an office across the hall from emergency manager assigned to this region.  HOWEVER as pointed out above we do not necessarily want/need scouts underfoot at many emergencies we have historically addressed, and mock scenarios/drills are often held weekdays  that tend to occur during school year.

 

One of the MBs I counsel is Search and Rescue.  That entails a simulated search protocol for lost person(s).  Thinking aloud, maybe these exercises could be combined...mobilize for grid search. I appreciate that meals cooked for rank advancement are not to be used for Cooking MB, etc.  

 

I don't know.  This was a good Camp MB because they had them complete this with some sort of drill by "gathering at the pavilion" to satisfy the requirement.  I wasn't there, so I cannot attest to the detail of the mock emergency.

 

 Any thoughts? (sound of floodgates opening).  

Edited July 15, 2015 by tprjj49707

[christineka]

CERT (community emergency response team) should hold drills once a month.  I'd contact them to see if the scouts could come participate.  BTW, the minimum age for cert training is 14, so some boys can take the training to be on the team.  (A lot of the training would cover the merit badge.)

[Stosh]

This very topic is what brought me to this entire forum.  My son needs E-prep MB. As a general comment to all the above, I work for the state police, and have an office across the hall from emergency manager assigned to this region.  HOWEVER as pointed out above we do not necessarily want/need scouts underfoot at many emergencies we have historically addressed, and mock scenarios/drills are often held weekdays  that tend to occur during school year.

 

One of the MBs I counsel is Search and Rescue.  That entails a simulated search protocol for lost person(s).  Thinking aloud, maybe these exercises could be combined...mobilize for grid search. I appreciate that meals cooked for rank advancement are not to be used for Cooking MB, etc.  

 

I don't know.  This was a good Camp MB because they had them complete this with some sort of drill by "gathering at the pavilion" to satisfy the requirement.  I wasn't there, so I cannot attest to the detail of the mock emergency.

 

 Any thoughts? (sound of floodgates opening).  

 

First of all welcome to the forum!

 

I would think that state law enforcement and regional emergency medical teams may not want a bunch of little kids hanging around some major crisis, but as one who served in a small town in rural America, all hands on deck were a welcomed sight.  Especially the scouts who were trained in what to do and and what to not do!

 

We held our simulations on Saturdays so as many people as possible could attend, not just the elite trained.  

 

One example that has always set well with me was we were doing a scenario of an anhydrous ammonia leak at the local farmers' supply operation.  The set-up crew set off a huge smoke bomb to simulate the cloud.  I was near the command post as an EMT and the local scouts were a few feet away waiting for an assignment.  The one kid (farm boy) commented to his buddies to stay away from any smoke or if they smell it to run as fast as you can away from it.  It wasn't more than a minute later the local fire department water truck drove into the cloud without their breathing equipment on and the judge announced they were all casualties to park the truck and sit tight.  It was kinda too bad the scout wasn't driving.  

 

What did the scouts do that day for the drill?  They supplied water, sandwiches and ran communications for those treating casualties that didn't have radios.  They also helped out EMT teams resupply supplies as needed.

 

Maybe they aren't a whole lot of useful in the ER triage lot, but they do free up a lot of expert personnel from having to hand out water bottles and sandwiches.  We always found the kids who knew what they were doing and had participated in our drills to be a real asset to the job at hand.  

 

I remember as a kid my mother was Civil Defense trained in triage and her training wasn't anything a 15+ year old couldn't do just as well.

 

At 15 years of age, I flew sorties for downed aircraft as an observer/spotter and worked the radio so the pilot could concentrate on looking out his side of the plane and flying it on grid.

 

Just remember they aren't just a bunch of kids hanging around underfoot. 

[qwazse]

Our camp had an actual search-and-rescue last year. Troops had to move in an orderly fashion to their respective safe staging stations, and one camp had to initiate a mile-wide line search. So, yes there's a little overlap.

 

But, when I think of "troop mobilization"; however, I think: how do you get your troop together and ready to serve in any reasonable capacity? Often times this involves discussion with a professional, such as yourself, who recalls the last couple events and has an idea of where volunteers are needed the most.

• You probably don't want 3 dozen boys cluttering your hallways!
• You probably do want 3 dozen boys gathered in a safe staging area in an orderly fashion, with one representative to contact you to let them know they're available for assignment.
• The assignment could be go to the local Salvation Army and serve lunch. Or, go to a food-bank and load supplies. Or set up cots at a staging area for displaced residents.
• Then tidy up afterword.
• Providing a nearby area for campfire (and possibly an overnight) after the drill is done would be nice. There the boys could evaluate how well they did.

For such an excersize, you don't need a lot of your personell participating in the drill. (Although I'm sure the boys would appreciate whatever "bells and whistles" you could add!)

 

So, if your boys were to do both requirements on a weekend, I'd have the troop mobilization part be one step. The search and rescue part be a different step -- probably after they evaluate their mobilization excersize. This gives them a chance to improve on what might not have worked well during that initial mobilization.

Edited July 15, 2015 by qwazse

[tprjj49707]

Stosh, Qwazse,

 

Both excellent contributions.  When I hear mobilization it means pack for a trip, grab riot gear, fill out this, etc., etc. Probably overthinking based on my pre-conceived, work-related definition of that dirty word.  I really like the two step approach suggested.

 

For the record, I have never been mobilized for anything that youths would be encouraged to go to...no looking for lost, etc.  My primary assignment is fatal crash reconstruction & forensic crime scene mapping.  I know enough about emergency management to know I am not a leading authority.  I will check in with current em office holder, office across the hall has just been moved 60 miles away & new guy in it is learning the ropes.