Off to Work We Go

So here we are in the middle of our 3rd week working at the FEMA offices. Our team is working alongside a team from the Vinton, Iowa campus in the Response Division. The first 2 weeks were a little bit slow. The full-time employees have been very busy with different things, so they didn't have enough time to explain our project to us and help us really get going with it. However, a lot of our time has been filled with some interesting trainings.

The staff at FEMA are very good about giving us opportunities to go to any of the trainings they're holding for their employees and to come grab us if anything interesting is going on that we might want to see. They want us to be able to learn as much as possible while we're here. So we attended a 2-day training/simulation that focused on the Regional Response Coordination Center (RRCC), basically the regional support unit for the staff on the ground, and how it would function in the event of a disaster. We also attended a short training on the Endangered Species Act and how FEMA works with the Fish and Wildlife Service to make sure that any work they do will not have a negative effect on any endangered or threatened species or their critical habitats. Another training adressed social media and how FEMA is using it to reach the public. (You can follow FEMA Region VI - the region I work in - on Twitter @femaregion6 and you can also follow FEMA on Facebook to get updates of what the agency is doing). Next week, we're attending another training which will teach us about the different equipment that is used when working with hearing or vision impaired disaster survivors. They also grabbed us to show us how the IMAT team, basically the first team on the ground when a disaster hits, gets packed and prepared to deploy on short notice (they were conducting a drill).

The entire staff is very welcoming and friendly. I was a little nervous on our first day, expecting a lot of stiff, serious government employees, but they're always really laid-back and nice. They threw us a barbecue on our first day, they chat with us, they give us homemade cookies. It's great.


And the work is definitely picking up. We're beginning to archive old Mission Assignments by scanning them and storing them electronically. It will definitely keep us busy. And today we got to go on a field trip to the Fort Worth Distribution Center. This is one of the places where they store the commodities that they'll need in the event of a disaster. We walked through huge warehouses stacked from bottom to top, and front to back with pallets of water, food, blankets, tarps, plastic sheeting, etc. They explained to us the complexity involved with moving all those items and figuring out how much they'd need, how they'd get it there, and how long it would take. Not to mention getting it all back after the disaster efforts are completed.

The weirdness still hasn't worn off. Every time I look down at my blue polo with the Department of Homeland Security seal sewn in, or at my super official badge that says FEMA with the holograms and everything, I think "How did I end up here?" I never would have thought.