KADENA AIR BASE, Japan –
Members from the Air Force, Navy and Army processed 150 families while
participating in a joint Non-combatant Evacuation Operation exercise here April
8.
In an Okinawa-wide NEO, evacuees may have to go to the closest NEO
point, which may not always be the military branch their family is with, so it
is important for the different branches to work together to familiarize
themselves with the procedures.
Representatives from finance, the Red
Cross, housing and more took the dependants and volunteers through the steps
needed to take their family from a rally point to being able to board an
aircraft to a safe location.
"The purpose of this exercise is to acquaint
the family members of what the process will be like," said Lorrie Perkins, 18th
Force Support Squadron Airmen and Family Readiness Center team lead. "It also
lets us practice with real families so that we get an idea of some of the
challenges we face so we can be better prepared in the eventuality that we have
to really do this."
With summer on its way, many new families are being
stationed on Kadena Air Base and some of them have never dealt with NEOs and may
think they can wait till the last minute to gather paperwork and
supplies.
"It's a little easier on people if they understand the process
and what might be required ahead of time instead of waiting until a NEO
situation comes about and try to put stuff together," said Col. Debra Lovette,
18th Mission Support Group commander. "We are trying to decrease that stress
level when a NEO actually happens by letting people know what's available, what
they might need to get out of town and what they should be thinking about before
they actually do any of it."
While some key items vary from family to
family, one important item for any family is passports.
"Once they get
into the NEO process it is very likely they are going to require a passport to
get wherever it is they are going next so that is absolutely an essential to
have," said Lovette. "Some families require some kind of medical supplies, those
are kind of critical because you don't really know how long it's going to take
to get to a location that can resupply your medical needs, so you have to think
through how long you might need to have a supply on hand."
For the
families with kids it is important to note they will have to wait in line
multiple places or be sitting in a queue for a while, so it is recommended to
bring electronics, chargers and other entertainment or snacks. It is advised
that people bring enough food for three days per person. Ideally they'll never
have to tap into that because there will be a plan in place, but plans are
subject to change.
Perkins said that each person is allowed a suitcase
weighing 25 pounds, so it is important to figure out what is worth bringing and
what can be left behind.
Another important item to have prepared is a NEO
folder and to make sure one of the NEO wardens or unit representatives assigned
to the squadron has an updated map to the dependant's or other non-combatant's
home if they need to contact them and cannot by phone.
"A lot of the
paperwork in the folders is pretty easy to keep and update as you go, said
Lovette. "Things change, so it is important to have it put together now when you
have time because it is pretty thorough."
The 18th Wing usually conducts
a NEO exercise twice a year, with their next one being in August, but they are
looking at increasing the frequency of exercises depending on how much more the
other services will participate.