Few would argue against the notion that the U.S. Armed Forces is the best military in the history of warfare. Most would attribute our nation's ability to successfully wage war on the battlefield to advanced weaponry, far reaching logistics and communicative methods. Although these tangible tools of fighting help, the nucleus of our combat power is the individual soldier, sailor, airman, marine and coast guardsman. Why? Because they know how to make decisions and most importantly, they are allowed to when leadership is absent from the scene.
Leading From The Bottom Up
Contrary to the battlefield management protocols of most militaries around the globe, the U.S. Army established over 68 years ago, at the dawn of our involvement in WW2, that combat is fluid, ever-changing, and the tactical situation on the ground often looks different than the strategic perspective back at headquarters. Understanding this concept meant that lower ranking soldiers needed to be able to make "real time" decisions in combat. That's why our military then, and now, places a huge emphasis on squad and platoon level leadership abilities. Generals may formulate the battle-plan in the rear area, but it's the NCOs leading the troops on the front lines who execute those plans down to the minutest detail.
Domestically, public and private safety organizations also adhere to the military style chain-of-command. Here the "enemy" is often tornados, floods, forest fires, hurricanes, earth quakes and other disasters. In these situations the generals, so to speak, work out of emergency management agencies and not the Department of Defense (with exceptions). So what happens if your tactical leadership is wiped out? Remember, on the battlefield if the lieutenant is incapacitated then the platoon, squad or other sergeant has been conditioned to "step up" to take charge. Likewise, on the home front patrol officers, fire fighters, security officers, and EMTs should have been trained, and authorized, to fill-in and make on-the-scene decisions. However, they can only do this if they understand the strategy first, from an emergency manager's perspective.
Outside Help Coming In
Whenever a disaster hits a locality and local resources are overwhelmed then emergency management steps in. Essentially, the purpose of emergency management (EMA) is to coordinate all the rescue assets needs to mitigate a disaster and to facilitate recovery efforts. In many ways, EMA is to rescue services what air traffic controllers are to aircraft. EMA can be limited in response to county/regional assets, or expand to state and federal, to include the military, depending on the severity of the event. In order to do this though, a Presidential Declaration must be made. So how can you get the White House to respond to your needs?
Presidential Disaster Declaration Steps
- You notify your county EMA that you incapable of providing service.
- County rescue elements respond. If they are overwhelmed, then county EMA notifies state EMA.
- State EMA assesses the situation, activates state emergency plan, sends help (i.e., National Guard), and then the governors office notifies the regionally assigned FEMA office to conduct a damage assessment.
- Once FEMA assesses the damage, the governors office has to fulfill other financial, administrative, stipulations and if conditions warrant, then the President of The United States may "declare that a major disaster or emergency exists...".
- In a perfect world, once this is done, U.S. Air Force C-17s loaded to the gills with everything you need should be lining up on final approach to your nearest airfield.
Regardless of your opinion of FEMA as an organization, they are still the ones tasked with help and recovery on a massive scale. Now that you know the step by step process of notification that trips the response, you have to know how to contact them. Start by determining ahead of time (before the crisis) your EMA points of contact:
- Local: Large municipalities or organizations (ex. State universities, hospital campuses) often have their own EMA derivative. Sometimes they are known as "Health and Safety". In short, they are the ones trained in EMA initiation.
- County: Every county has at least one person (in the most rural parts of our country) or office that is assigned EMA duties for their respective jurisdiction.
- State: Mandated by statute, every state staffs an EMA and has so in one form or another over the last 58 years in response to "The Federal Disaster Relief Act of 1950 (Public Law 81-875)".
- Federal: Been in existence either in concept, or functionality, since 1803 but through political/organizational evolution is now known as FEMA. It is important to know which "Region" you are in so that you are aware of what services are available to you.
