A week in Baton Rouge with FEMA

I was at the Louisiana Recovery Office in Baton Rouge last week for a FEMA Functional Exercise, serving as a specialist level participant tasked with completing assignments in accordance with ESF-15 standard operating procedures as indicated in the PMSP FQS position task book. The scenario focused on a tornado and flooding in the Midwest that left more than 50 fatalities and 116 homes destroyed. I got to work again with several people I know from previous deployments. The gentleman behind me in the photo was director of the JIC when I was deployed to Colorado for three months last year after extensive flooding there. During this scenario he was an evaluator, watching everything we did and noting whether any followup was needed during the daily review session at the end of each day. This was the first time I had ever been in the State of Louisiana. The restaurants all featured fish and seafood entrees. I was also able to renew my ID while I was there, good through December 2019.