I was rummaging through some old files the other day and I came across my copy of the After Action Report (AAR) for Quakex97. 
This was a joint local, state and federal medical exercise based on a Cascadia earthquake event. Having just finished up the medical exercise within Cascadia Rising 2016 I thought it would be interesting to see how far we’ve come in close to 20 years of exercising. Bon Jovi’s song The More Things Change came to mind as I read and determined we really have not made as much progress as 20 years of exercising would suggest.
I was trying to rationalize the apparently lack of progress after almost 20 years of exercise as I was working out at my gym the next day. What I concluded is that we have been using wrong terminology when we refer to our process of training and testing of plans and procedures as “exercise”. Exercise by definition it is an activity requiring physical effort, carried out especially to sustain or improve health and fitness. A good number of emergency preparedness exercises I have observed over the past 30 years don’t include the necessary components of resistance, weight and the exertion of energy. How much mental and physical muscle memory can we really be building?
To support my hypothesis I tried a few reps on the rowing machine with no resistance and then back at my normal setting. Definitely some noticeable difference. Then I tried the Lat Pull Down machine just to make sure the rowing machine findings were not an anomaly….nope same results. My experiment showed me going to the gym to exercise without the use of appropriate weight and resistance is wasting your time. I guess you can pretend to exercise and impress someone but when time comes to actually need to use those muscles you’ll be embarrassed. Same goes for our emergency preparedness “exercises”. If we pretend to actually work out we’ll be embarrassed by our lack of performance when the real thing happens. Exercise also needs to include reps to really work and build muscles. So how can one-off emergency preparedness “exercises” which includes pretending be accomplishing anything? Certainly should not be called an “exercise” program.
Instead of the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) maybe we should be calling it the Homeland Security Pretending and Sedentary Program (HSPSP). We “exercise” and evaluate our performance and then typically put away the AAR findings and rest until next year when we “exercise” again. In some cases major “exercises” are carried out every couple of years. We pretend we are prepared, but there is no way we build up muscle and mental memory with that kind of pattern.
Now as I age I have found that some sedentary activities such as reading, sitting, watching TV and pounding on the computer key board are enjoyable. On the other hand carried to extreme a sedentary lifestyle can contribute to many preventable causes of death so I do try and exercise exercise, not pretend exercise. Why don’t we do the same with our emergency preparedness efforts? Following my gym workout analogy I have some steps listed below for us the really obtain the benefits of an exercise program.
- Exercise controls weight – When you engage in physical activity, you burn calories. The more intense the activity, the more calories you burn. This doesn’t need to be designed to always lose weight as much as maintain a healthy weight for you. No need to set aside large chunks of time for exercise to reap weight-loss benefits. For example by taking the stairs instead of the elevator or walking to lunch instead of driving. Exercises for emergency preparedness don’t all have to be elaborate and take months of planning. The only ones burning calories for months is the planning team. If you’ve ever been on a planning team you know exactly what should happen when things kick-off and yet you’re constantly amazed at what people have forgotten or fail to implement. Your mental fitness is great but the people who have not been exercising their brains are too over-weight mentally for a healthy response. One way to get more people to burn some calories regularly is do have mini no-notice “what-if” exercises around the lunch table, coffee machine or even while driving. The more you exercise the more you can cut through the excess mental fat surrounding what actions you expect people to take.
- Exercise combats health conditions and diseases – Worried about heart disease? Hoping to prevent high blood pressure? No matter what your current weight being active keeps your blood flowing smoothly which decreases your risk of cardiovascular diseases. In fact, regular physical activity can help you prevent or manage a wide range of health problems. Look back over the last 10 AARs from your organization’s exercises and I’m sure you will see signs and symptoms of diseases consistent with the organizational couch potato syndrome. Focus on these areas over this next year with a frequent exercise workout schedule. Reassess if some of the problems are mitigated or prevented all together by the end of the year. As you get better increase the weight and resistance during your exercises. This is one of the things I take issue with when changing federal grant guidance says we expect you to focus on exercising X,Y,Z this year when A,B,C continues to be a problem. It’s difficult to build muscle and mental memory when constantly changing our workout pattern.
- Exercise improves mood – Need an emotional lift or just need to blow off some steam after a stressful day? A workout at the gym or a brisk 30-minute walk can help. Physical activity stimulates various brain chemicals that may leave you feeling happier and more relaxed, boost your confidence and improve your self-esteem. I think the worst thing organizations can do is not adequately prepare their staff for likely events and actions you want them to take. Regardless if your organizational exercise program improves self-esteem it certainly should help eliminate the crushing sense of doubt and second guessing their actions after an event because they didn’t know what to do. Exercise until they regularly demonstrate competency in the skill set you’re looking for. They will feel better about themselves and so will you.
- Exercise boosts energy – Winded by grocery shopping, household chores or surfing the web? Regular physical activity can improve your muscle strength and boost your endurance. Exercise and physical activity deliver oxygen and nutrients to your tissues. Getting more oxygen to our brain is going to help it work more efficiently as well. I see too many organizations exercising when they have adequate staff, daylight, equipment and ideal conditions. Sometimes to make themselves feel better they will pretend they have adverse conditions but it is just not the same as trying to work when cold, wet and tired. The world changes as night falls and organizations that focus on daytime exercising will find themselves out of breath and struggling in no time at all in a real major event. Adding the unpleasantness of darkness, wind and rain and staff shortages during exercises helps build their energy reserves for that one day when someones life will be dependent upon their actions. Exercises don’t have to be elaborate to build endurance. Often just focusing on the simple things under adverse conditions is enough.
- Exercise promotes better sleep – Struggling to fall asleep or to stay asleep? Regular physical activity can help you fall asleep faster and deepen your sleep. Proper preparedness exercising in my mind means you are prepared to do your job, so sleep can come easily. Having said that there are major events that can keep me awake at night. Not because of my own lack of preparedness, but my assessment that others are not prepared for the extensive need of collaboration, cooperation and coordination necessary to maximize outcomes. Most people rest easily playing the odds the big one won’t happen tonight. I guess that works for some and maybe I should envy them. I’d rather give some folks nightmares during exercises so they stop pretending and do the job right or they’ll experience negative consequences.
- Exercise can be fun – Exercise and physical activity can be a fun way to spend some time. It gives you a chance to unwind, enjoy the outdoors or simply engage in activities that make you happy. Physical activity can also help you connect with family or friends in a fun social setting. Nothing builds team camaraderie like over coming an obstacle collectively. Anyone who has partaken in one of my training evolutions or exercises understands that I am their common enemy they must band together to defeat. I fondly recall the night exercise where my physician advisor was crawling around at 11 PM in the rain, covered in sand, trying not to get compromised by a hostile element while looking for the team dinner boxes. It may not sound like fun but he told me later it was the best meal he had eaten in some time. I had another student going through the same course who thanked me years later for all the night work under adverse conditions. They felt it probably contributed to them surviving their tours overseas as a medic. Exercise like you mean it, sweat and curse and you can talk about it was later how fun and rewarding it was.
I believe it was Richard Marcinko who wrote a couple of quotes regarding the necessity for our training and exercises to reflect real-life and prepare us properly. “The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in combat”, and “Pain was their body’s way of telling them that they’d pushed themselves to their limits — which was exactly where they were supposed to be.” 
Is it possible to make our organizational exercise program really reflective of what exercising should achieve or will we continue to go through the motions? We can pretend we’re prepared but pretending everything will be fine doesn’t work for the victims and survivors. I’m curious your take on the topic and look forward to your comments.
Another thing to be aware of: if you are depending on volunteers, we are aging and may not be in physical condition to respond when the Big One hits. Are you recruiting AND TRAINING new volunteers?
Good comment Barbara. Sustainment of any volunteer team is a huge challenge today. You also bring up the concept of working smarter not harder and giving consideration to team configuration to either even out physical condition and/or group them by conditioning and assign them task appropriately.
Another excellent article Jan! So true! So much money is purely wasted on exercise programs to play the game but, never meeting the actual goal of improving!
In an effort to “get everyone ready” for an exercise we often train using the exact scenario and even, for “full scale”exercise run table tops on the scenario prior to the event. I would argue that, under those conditions we are not “exercising” or “testing plans”, we are putting on very expensive plays to make everyone feel better.
Tim Pridemore, CFPS
And yet that meets all the criteria related to accepting grant funds and being “prepared”. Scary I know Tim.
Another thing that a lot of people do is test to theory, not to practicality. I have seen Agencies say that in a large event they STILL will be able to do all of the things that they are supposed to do, but in reality they cannot or will not be able to do. We have to take the blinders off of these Agencies and hope they adapt to reality.
Good point Jeffrey and why I have been asked to “red team” some exercises just to help open eyes.
I’ve been a CERT member in Cleveland, OH for almost 4 years now, but I have been involved in law enforcement for 45 years now. I can relate to the comments being made here. We all want to think that we are prepared, but in reality, nothing can prepare us for the real thing. We can conduct an exercise once a year and say that we’re doing our due diligence, but the only thing it really accomplishes is shows our local group who will be there for us [CERT] when the real-deal occurs. To me, preparation starts and ends with being mentally conditioned. Are we of the mindset to execute protocol that is in the best interest of all involved? Are we going to act on our own, or work as a team? What is our breaking point? Obviously, our families come first and we have to make sure they are secure before we report-in to help others. So, you can see that all these variables are going to effect the actual “response” that we provide as CERT members.
Excellent article and so true.
Sad :(
I can not say anymore but spot on.
And when things really go wrong, who gets the blame…
Love your analogy!
My mind is a simple thing therefore my analogies must be as well :)
Very good Jan, you are spot on. It is so frustrating to “go thru the motions” and not fix the same “motion” problem as before or even challenge things that work during the “drill” to see if indeed they can be stressed.
There are critical factors that are common among emergencies and the Emergency Service Sector Providers that need to tracked and measured for improvement. without doing this as you have said the exercise is not useful unless stressed.
d
Jan, very incisive and spot on.
Exercises are more than individual actions, we also need to get sclerotic firms and institutions to act. The exercises we design are commonly performed not to degrade everyday activities (fall in “work” hours, etc). These organizations also need resistive exercise to be effective.
What we do well everyday we likely will do well in emergencies. Everything else will be a struggle, as you effectively argue. That leaves us with a list that looks more like – scheduling meetings, organizing parking, following process – more than – triage for decisions, allowing decisions to flow from the field, being strategic.
Thanks for the great article.
Speaking for myself – not my work.
Spot On – I grew up in the days before Franklin Planners were popular, when “Run Cards” were in my front pocket to ensure I learned my 1st due area, Sure we used overhead projectors for review of buildings and street assignments – but getting out on the street and learning the district was the only way to know your community, hazards and best prepare for consequence management.
Billions of dollars have been spent (Not Invested) on exercises for local, state and federal agencies. – A big parade with a few people with shovels and wheel barrows following behind the elephants in the exercise (Or controllers to put the train back on the track)
BLUF – (Bottom Line Up Front) – if you don’t live it, work it talk about it and make small incremental changes every day – you are just fooling yourself in the deceit of we can do “That” or we can fake it until we make it.
People admire a Big Parade – but do not want to complete the daily good habits needed for their organizations to maintain themselves to peak performance and hope to pass a physical agility test every couple of years to “Pass the Test.”
Good points Mike. Going to the gym regularly takes discipline and comitment to the long haul to see result….being prepared to help others also requires no less.
A good read here brought over from LinkedIn…. Tony Jaques Good thoughts. Too many executives seem to have the false idea that once they’ve completed a scenario drill, the job of getting ready for a crisis is done. This is a piece about how to adress that challenge. http://tinyurl.com/gn25pux
Good straight article on the world of exercising today. Check the box – – “We did it again this year”.
A big concern I have is that leaders/organization directors aren’t exercising with their team. They are observing or “sending someone else because I’m too busy”. They have to play at a pressure level too. They have to give the press conference and answer the real questions. For example, a state EM director has to be able to explain what the danger of a nuclear power plant radioactive steam release is (not scientifically but) in adequate terms so that a Governor can get it and say it before the public to show some credibility and provide some level of confidence to the public that his team is on the ball. The director has to also know enough to be able to detect when his/her staff is not on top of the situation – it can happen, work always goes down to the lowest level – so who should leaders be thinking about for a quality answer(?).
If the leaders play forcefully and honestly then they are better and their team will play better and be better the next time whether a snowstorm or a chemical release or a civil disturbance. There has been a general lack of intensity due to the failures of leadership for exercising. you are right you sleep better if the team has been stressed before. You have to practice how to coordinate. An EOC software system does not coordinate for you. It is an information dissemination tool.
In today’s world, it seems few if anyone wants to take the “test” by being questioned about the decisions you must make about what you know and what is your analysis of the problem and the operational actions going forward. It has become a show up activity with a very routine planned and programmed successful outcome and predictable timeline from beginning to end.
Leadership and coordination – – you don’t know it until you don’t have it.
Joe
Great point Joe. One of the best comments I would routinely get after teaching or facilitating exercises where I had some autonomy to manage it my way was …”you made us think”. That’s really not such a bad thing…conduct exercises with sufficient stress to evaluate critical decision making skills. I’d rather know how much weight I should be trying to lift on a machine through practice than weight until I really need to lift a heavy item and find I can’t budge it and was not smart enough to ask for timely help. This is how real life events start going into their death spiral. Bad decisions lead to more bad decisions.