Yokota hosts Air Force Incident Management Course

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Lynsie Nichols
  • 374th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan --  Airmen and civilians who play roles in emergency response from throughout the Pacific came together for the Air Force Incident Management course that was hosted here Nov. 3-5.

Every year, 12 courses are conducted at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., and approximately 20 courses are conducted overseas to train first responders on how to better prepare and handle an emergency incident.

During the course, subject matter experts from the different career fields give briefings and conduct exercises which allow course participants to discuss and practice how they would respond to a certain emergency situation.

Mr. Gary Singletary, AFIM course instructor for the Ira C. Eaker Center at Maxwell AFB, has been teaching the course for two years and said he wants students to get familiar with the processes that go into emergency response to prepare them for their roles in any incident that may occur.

"We want them [students] to have a chance to see where they stack up, if they have any limitations," said Mr. Singletary. "We want them to realize their real-world capability and how they can respond to emergency situations."

Course participant 1st Lt. Ryan McKinley, 374th Civil Engineer Squadron Readiness Flight officer, said he learned what his capabilities are if he should ever be involved in an incident response situation.

"The most significant thing I've taken away from this course is what each commander or each squadron brings to the fight," said Lieutenant McKinley. "I've learned how that plays into an over-all emergency management situation."

The lieutenant highly recommends this course to anyone who plays a role in emergency response.

"It's important for Emergency Operations Center directors and managers to take this course because it allows us to better prepare for an emergency situation," said Lieutenant McKinley. "Each EOC commander gets a taste of what each player brings to the flight and that enables us to better prepare for whether it's an air flight emergency or a natural disaster."

Of the courses Mr. Singletary has taught, he said he feels that this course offers more than the other emergency response classes in the Air Force because it brings together officers, enlisted and civilians from several different bases to share ideas and learn from each other.