Gathering of Eagles - technical After Action Report
I'll address my feeling about the event in a separate post. This is my technical AAR for my own later reference.
Arrived Wednesday March 14 around 7 pm with OWB.
NOTE: OWB was the GoE security chief and I was responsible for communications.
Thursday March 15:
OWB and I met up with Kristann Taylor and Larry Bailey at Air America Studios. Larry and Kristann were interviewed by The G Man himself, OWB and I listened from the booth... never got the picture or handshake I'd hoped for, sadly Mr. Liddy was in the middle of his show.
OWB and I then proceeded to The Mall to do radio checks and Reconnoiter the area. Captain Bailey and Kristann arrived a bit later. Temp was in the low 80's. Luck had it that our permitted area had a knoll that provided a clear view of all the Memorials (WWII, Korea, Vietnam, etc. that we were planning to secure on Saturday. Radio coverage was excellent.
I advised Kristann that I wanted the knoll for the operations center, and he advised me to be there early Friday to meet with the crew erecting the stage and shelters. Met later with civilian contract security personnel who were responsible for the stage and other equipment from 4pm on the 16th to 4pm on the 17th. GoE would be responsible during the erection phase and/or until 4pm
Friday March 16:
1st CAV and I arrived at about 9:30 am the weather turned rainy, but we met with the crew and confirmed the location of the Ops center. More area check out. When we left at around 11:30 the rain was heavy and steady.
Returned to the hotel to prepare for the influx of volunteers. Made a run to Target to grab some prepaid type cell phones for backup commo. Saw to the rotation of our security volunteers who were on site. They arrived back wet, cold, and bedraggled.
Returned to hotel to continue dealing with the volunteers and other arrivals. Watched the weather turn to snow and sleet.
Saturday March 17:
OWB, TACAN, The Gray Dog, and I arrived on-site at about 7am.
Ground was snow and ice covered, there was also a fair amount of flooding from the rain. Temp was about 30 or less. No precip but the wind drove the wind chill down.
TACAN and I did a final radio check and began distributing radios to our marshals. We had two loggers who were tasked with logging every transmission.
Aside: I had managed to misplace my winter coat the night before so I had two sweatshirts and a plastic poncho for warmth (and no gloves). others were as cold or colder, and my great location caught the worst of the wind.
I was at the Ops Center until about 2:30 when we started closing down. We changed batteries and generally saw to it the the marshals had what they needed, when they needed it. The radios performed perfectly.
More personal details and impressions follow.
Arrived Wednesday March 14 around 7 pm with OWB.
NOTE: OWB was the GoE security chief and I was responsible for communications.
Thursday March 15:
OWB and I met up with Kristann Taylor and Larry Bailey at Air America Studios. Larry and Kristann were interviewed by The G Man himself, OWB and I listened from the booth... never got the picture or handshake I'd hoped for, sadly Mr. Liddy was in the middle of his show.
OWB and I then proceeded to The Mall to do radio checks and Reconnoiter the area. Captain Bailey and Kristann arrived a bit later. Temp was in the low 80's. Luck had it that our permitted area had a knoll that provided a clear view of all the Memorials (WWII, Korea, Vietnam, etc. that we were planning to secure on Saturday. Radio coverage was excellent.
I advised Kristann that I wanted the knoll for the operations center, and he advised me to be there early Friday to meet with the crew erecting the stage and shelters. Met later with civilian contract security personnel who were responsible for the stage and other equipment from 4pm on the 16th to 4pm on the 17th. GoE would be responsible during the erection phase and/or until 4pm
Friday March 16:
1st CAV and I arrived at about 9:30 am the weather turned rainy, but we met with the crew and confirmed the location of the Ops center. More area check out. When we left at around 11:30 the rain was heavy and steady.
Returned to the hotel to prepare for the influx of volunteers. Made a run to Target to grab some prepaid type cell phones for backup commo. Saw to the rotation of our security volunteers who were on site. They arrived back wet, cold, and bedraggled.
Returned to hotel to continue dealing with the volunteers and other arrivals. Watched the weather turn to snow and sleet.
Saturday March 17:
OWB, TACAN, The Gray Dog, and I arrived on-site at about 7am.
Ground was snow and ice covered, there was also a fair amount of flooding from the rain. Temp was about 30 or less. No precip but the wind drove the wind chill down.
TACAN and I did a final radio check and began distributing radios to our marshals. We had two loggers who were tasked with logging every transmission.
Aside: I had managed to misplace my winter coat the night before so I had two sweatshirts and a plastic poncho for warmth (and no gloves). others were as cold or colder, and my great location caught the worst of the wind.
I was at the Ops Center until about 2:30 when we started closing down. We changed batteries and generally saw to it the the marshals had what they needed, when they needed it. The radios performed perfectly.
More personal details and impressions follow.
posted by Zero Ponsdorf at 6:20 PM
1 Comments:
"two sweatshirts and a plastic poncho for warmth (and no gloves)"
Are you sure all your parts are still in working order?
Just glad to see an entry here.
'S'
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