PHOTO GALLERY

Extensive damage documented by the 88th Regional Support Command of Equipment Concentration Site – 66 at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., after being struck by a tornado on Dec. 31, 2010. Continuity of Operation Plans allow the 88th RSC to maintain mission essential functions in this type of emergency. In order to be prepared for future emergencies, the 88th RSC’s Crisis Action Team members conducted a Continuity of Operations Plan Exercise on Fort McCoy, Wis., Oct.14. Charles Hudson, 88th Regional Support Command chief of staff said he knows firsthand how important it is to have a COOP in place in the event of a natural disaster. “The COOP’s priority of effort is to ensure mission essential functions are met,” Hudson said, “and then to ensure minimum degradation of customer support to commands within the 88th RSC geographic area of responsibility.” “The ability to implement the COOP was instrumental to recovery operations at Equipment Concentration Site – 66 at Fort Leonard Wood when it was struck by a tornado on December 31st, 2010,” Hudson explained. “Fortunately this was a Federal Holiday or we would have experienced loss of life. As it was, we lost $2.7M in equipment destroyed, $3.4M in equipment damage, and $5.5M in facilities repair and replacement,” Hudson continued. “We accounted for 100% of ECS personnel that day, none were impacted personally, and most were called in to work over the weekend to secure equipment and facilities, account for property and begin the slow recovery process,” Hudson said. “It took nearly a year for ECS-66 to recover from this event and much of that time was spent operating in temporary facilities elsewhere on Fort Leonard Wood. In addition, warehouse operations had to move 140 miles to an available warehouse at Weldon Springs Local Training Area in Saint Charles, Mo., Hudson said. “Given this real-world scenario,” Hudson said, “a COOP for the 88th RSC Headquarters is very important.”