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Navy Conducts Non-Combatant Evacuation Exercise

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS061031-12
Release Date: 10/31/2006 3:26:00 PM

By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Lisa Wassilieff, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Korea Public Affairs

SEOUL, Republic of Korea (NNS) -- U.S. Navy families living in the Republic of Korea had an opportunity to learn what an actual short-notice evacuation would be like during the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) semi-annual exercise called Courageous Channel 06-2 from Oct. 26-29.

The exercise involved a rehearsal of evacuation procedures in the event of a natural disaster or contingency on the Korean peninsula. This exercise is not just for service members’ families but all non-essential U.S. government employees, as well.

The mission of this exercise was to simulate all the necessary tasks used during a real-life evacuation. This included all the logistics involved, such as transportation, registration and monitoring of evacuees with the non-combatant evacuation operations (NEO) tracking system. The system is designed to evacuate these non-combatants from Korea to repatriation sites within the continental United States.

During the exercise, all those involved, including families and service members, had the chance to evaluate the challenges of moving much larger groups of people.

“The coordinators involved could really see the difficulties involved in maintaining visibility of non-combatant movement. They got a taste of what it takes to coordinate both the sail-way [evacuation by ferry] and fly-away [evacuation by aircraft],” said Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Korea NEO coordinator, Lt. Cmdr. Chris Gabriel. “They saw the challenges of evacuating 89 people under armistice conditions. With that, they saw how difficult it is to evacuate an estimate of over 10,000 non-combatants off the peninsula.”

The participants of the exercise also had the opportunity to realize how much effort is put in to getting them evacuated.

"With that in mind, the evacuees involved also get an appreciation for the level of effort that USFK puts in preparing for NEO. They can also share their experiences with friends and neighbors to further prepare for the event of an actual NEO," said Gabriel.

For the exercise, families needed to bring their “NEO packets,” which included important documents, such as birth certificates, passports and powers of attorney to the evacuation control centers (ECC) to verify their documentation is complete and accurate, and to become familiar with processing procedures.

Yeoman 1st Class Prudence Victor, a USFK escort during the exercise, explained how these types of exercises bring a little peace of mind to service members with families here.

“This exercise gives these active-duty personnel a firsthand look at what evacuees actually go through and helps them understand the process. The more they understand the process, the less worried they may be if an actual emergency evacuation were to occur," said Victor.

Gabriel said that, all in all, the exercise was a success.

“This is my third time participating in this exercise. My faith in the USFK NEO system was reaffirmed,” Gabriel said.