First responders: They could save your life

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class John D. Partlow
  • 374th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan --  When people's lives are on the line in an emergency situation, first responders could be the difference between life and death. When someone else's life is in their hands, their skills must be on point.

On June 26, Yokota hosted a first responders rodeo. The rodeo included emergency response training scenarios involving buildings and personnel around base and was meant to increase knowledge and skill set for first responders assigned to various squadrons here.

Unlike other exercises, this rodeo was meant to evaluate the responder's process of dealing with a situation, not just the result.

"This was held at a low-speed, low-threat tempo to ensure personnel could train and be trained during the scenarios," said Master Sgt. Michael Deiderich, 374th Airlift Wing Installation Exercise and Inspections superintendent. "All of the units involved came together and coordinated the planning for the exercise to ensure we provided quality training in a realistic way."

Deiderich went on to explain that one of the main reasons for the exercise's success was due to good communication, saying "all functions rallied together and coordinated extremely well."

"Communication went very well because everyone is becoming more aware of each other's role in emergency situations," said Tech. Sgt. Alberto Verastegui, Exercise Evaluation Team chief for the 374th Security Forces Squadron. "If every section takes care of their responsibilies like in the rodeo, we're golden."

According to Verastegui, the 374 SFS had another strength as well.

"Our ability to transition between each emergency scenario was spot on," he said. "Training in the past year has helped us greatly in certifying our newly assigned personnel at Yokota on how to react in emergency situations."

Airman 1st Class Justin Lozano, a medical technician assigned to the 374th Aerospace Medicine Squadron, had the opportunity to experience the rodeo first-hand.

"It was a good experience for me because I was able to see what a medical technician does on-scene of an emergency," he said. "Scenarios can easily become chaotic, but these went very well."

For every unit involved, their experience in the rodeo not only helped them for this exercise, but for future exercises down the road.

"This exercise was a resounding success," said Deiderich. "We have a great platform for our next exercise."