February 18, 2016  –   FORT POLK, La. - The Soldiers of the 103rd Quartermaster Company performed evacuee operations during the Joint Readiness Training Center exercise at the Intermediate Staging Base, Feb. 18, 2016.

Soldiers evacuated 70 “Gorgas” citizens living within the box, called “Dara Lam,” and airlifted them to a secure area to ensure their safety and establish a means of transportation to a new location.
    
“Our primary goal is to welcome them to Gorgas and let them know that we’ll take care of them,” said Spc. Brandi Jayroe, a unit supply specialist with the 103rd Quartermaster Company.
    
The Houston native discussed the process of what theoretically should happen after they welcome the evacuees of “Dara Lam.”
    
“We’ve been informed that some of them have places, friends and family here in the states. So a lot of this is getting them in contact with those people,” said Jayroe.
    
Between medical attention, referring to a consulate and ensuring the evacuees are safe, the 103rd Quartermaster Company are paired with the 574th Quartermaster Company for this particular exercise. This highlights the essential assets and capabilities across the nation and globally to complement and enable the Total Army and the Joint Force in a realistic training scenario.
    
This particular evacuee exercise is the first of its kind working directly with the Consulate out of Frankfurt, Germany, while being the third iteration of similar training during the JRTC rotations.

“A lot of this training is notional and we understand that, but this helps, not just them but us for future rotations,” said Maj. Ray Felix, an Observer Controller Trainer (OCT) with the Joint Readiness Training Center.