2011 C.E.R.T. Mobex

Yesterday I had the pleasure of participating in a really fun C.E.R.T. exercise. It is called our annual "Mobex" exercise. Basically, it's our practice for deployment - if we're needed somewhere that we'd have to travel and spend the night. The idea is that our team is self reliant in the event that we head out to help at a disaster.

We practiced everything from start to finish - meaning we packed everything we would need for a 72 hour deployment and headed out to our deployment staging area. There we were issued bins containing lots of cool toys, we packed and turned in our car keys. We loaded up the three vans, the trailer and two rigs to head down to a big open field.

Once we got to the field, we set up our base of operations. I was on the medical team, so we worked on getting a medical treatment area in place. Other areas included Logistics (where we got all of our goodies from), Communications/Command (they house all the radios, TVs, etc), Shelter (where our sleeping and eating quarters are) and the latrines (I don't think I need to explain what happens there).

CERT 1 Functioning As Logistics

The Shelter Team Setting Up Our Cots

These are the wonders called "Brief Relief". Yup, it's a tent with a bucket. However, it's a very complex bucket system, that involves some snazzy bags and chemicals that make biohazards bizhazardous no more. While it sounds gross, it's really way better than the alternative of just lots of yuck in a bucket and is actually way more sanitary than it sounds.

Betty Demonstrating Proper Use Of The Brief Relief

All in all, it was a really fun exercise. We were out for about 8 hours total - which included getting back to the deployment area and putting everything away. I like these kind of drills because we get to practice the whole process from start to finish and have to deal with being hot and tired. Real life at it's finest!

Convoy On The Way Home