Author: Lisa JoDean

BY: LISA JODEAN CRAWFORD

On the late afternoon of March 14, 2019, instead of shutting down my computer and preparing to head home for the night, I found myself standing in a small conference room on the lowest level of Joint Force Headquarters listening to both military and civilian emergency management leaders diligently – yet calmly – discuss life-saving procedures as flood waters rose in the Columbus, Nebraska area.

Because I chose to stay, to listen and observe, as conversations flurried around me, I was present when our lead aviation officer announced they were spinning up two UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters to recon a submerged home which local first-responders had been unable to reach by swift water rescue crafts.

I don’t remember thinking through any of the details – the temperature, the water, the timing, I just simply asked, “Can I go?” Less than 10 minutes later I was on the first helicopter out of the Nebraska National Guard air base in Lincoln, with my camera, headed in the direction of the distress call near Columbus with the search and rescue crew.

I flew over flood waters in Florida in 2017 after Hurricane Irma, but this was entirely different. The strong winds battered the helicopter back and forth, and when we flew in closer to the submerged homes, the water whipped up against the windows.

Between the trees, the powerlines, the high winds and racing water current, the severity of the situation quickly set in, and I listened intently to the communications on the head-set. This wasn’t Florida. This was my backyard. The water was still rising, the situation was dangerous for civilians and emergency responders alike, and the sun was going to set in a few hours.

Eventually, the air crews found a house deemed safe for the air crews to attempt an extraction. The crew chief used the hoist to lower a Soldier down onto the roof of the house below. I watched the events unfold through the viewfinder of my camera, recording every moment.

But when the first civilian came into view, clutching to the hoist with terrified eyes and with the winds twisting her about in the air as the crew chief struggled to reel her into the helicopter, I felt compelled to do something completely foreign to me: I put my camera down.

I unbuckled from my seat and reached out to help pull the woman onto the floor of the helicopter. With the crew chief, I assured her that she was safe, helped loosen her panicked grip from the hoist and eventually moved her to her seat. As I went to fasten her seatbelt, I realized the bag she had placed on the front of her body had our second rescue passenger inside – a small dog. I latched the belt gently around the bag and tried my best to calm her down. She may not have been able to hear my words over the roar of the helicopter blades, but I hoped my smile would set her at ease.

After that first house, we hoisted up two other individuals before flying back to a large parking lot in Columbus – ironically belonging to a water park. I ended up riding back in the crew chiefs’ seat as he sat on the floor. When we landed and helped the civilians off the Blackhawk, the woman reached back in toward me, grabbed my arm hard and mouthed the words, “Thank you,” – the terror in the eyes now turned to gratitude, a visual I had never seen before.

Our helicopter picked up another 10 people and three dogs that night. I took some photos and some video, but it was darker than I was used to and I spent most of the night acting in a supportive role: helping to pull the hoist onto the helicopter’s floor, securing the passenger into a seat and calming them and the dogs, as best I could.

The helicopter returned to the air base shortly after midnight that evening, and when I stepped off, I felt the night’s events as my knees were sore from crawling around, securing the passengers and my muscles ached from being blasted by 50 mile per hour winds over raging icy waters, even though the doors were only open a few moments. I was physically and emotionally exhausted having seen firsthand the devastation water can do. I was still trying to wrap my brain around knowing that this wasn’t a coastline or swampland under siege by tropical storms or hurricanes, but humble Midwestern communities overtaken by floods never before seen in this part of the country.

As a journalist, I know the power of photography, videography and storytelling. “Strength Through Truth” is the motto of the Defense Information School at Fort Meade, Maryland, where all military mass communication specialists are trained. My job is to collect the images and the stories – the truths – and share them with the world. That is why I asked to be on that first helicopter out, to capture those moments for the world.

I am also a Soldier – and a Citizen Soldier at that. Regardless of our job title, we are always told to remember that we need to be “Soldiers first.” That first day of the flood, in the helicopter, being a Soldier and doing my job, meant lending a helping hand and a reassuring smile to neighbors, instead of staying behind my camera.

Overall, the Nebraska National Guard public affairs team was successful in documenting the flood response efforts. The Nebraska Broadcasters Association honored us with the Chairman’s Award this year for the visual documentation and media access provided in the early stages of the flood which helped mobilize relief efforts. But that first day in the helicopter – that “Thank you,” – was why I proudly wear a uniform every day. Being a photojournalist with the Nebraska National Guard – documenting the brave men and women of my home state as they help my neighbors – has been the most rewarding experience of my life, and sometimes that’s worth putting a camera down for.

When Maj. Gen. Daryl Bohac, Nebraska adjutant general, looks back on his time as the dual head of the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency and the Nebraska National Guard, there are three years holding the most significant memories: 2013, 2019 and 2020.

In 2013 – when he first became Nebraska’s adjutant general – he faced a government shutdown requiring him to issue dozens of layoffs early in his tenure. And of course 2020 with the response to the COVID-19 global pandemic, will be a year the entire world will never forget.

But 2019 – the year Nebraska was hit with widespread historic flooding – was also the year Nebraska showed the world it’s strength and resilience, and that’s something Bohac will never forget.

“For me personally, to be where I am today, and to have the privilege of leading the Nebraska National Guard and to at least statutorily lead the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency, if I ever had any doubts about what I’m supposed to be doing in this life, and what my calling is… it was only reaffirmed by the experience over (those) three and a half weeks,” Bohac said. “To be able to be part of a team and to help lead a team to do the amazing work that we did… I’m humbled to be in that position to help.”

When the floods began in mid-March 2019, Bohac moved his Nebraska National Guard adjutant general office from the fourth floor of the Joint Force Headquarters building in Lincoln down to the first floor where the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) was housed with the Nebraska Emergency Management Offices.

As a dual-hat leader – meaning he helms the state emergency management agency and the entire Nebraska Army and Air National Guard force – Bohac said having the two organizations co-located and right together allowed for a much more adept, much more agile response force when needed.

“The day-to-day interaction between the military and emergency management that occurs is unprecedented in our agency’s history,” he said. “Those two things coming together… and having the relationships, builds confidence, trust and the ability to execute in a rapid way.”

Together, NEMA and the Nebraska National Guard form the Nebraska Military Department, and it was the strength of that department – working with so many other local organizations and partners – that Bohac said led to the success of the flood response efforts in 2019.

“Coming out of the floods, one of things we learned was that we hadn’t done enough training with other search and rescue elements,” Bohac said. “While we were able to leverage them and them us… I think the lesson learned is that we weren’t as prepared as we could’ve been.”

Bohac said he was very proud of the amount of recues achieved across all agencies including the Nebraska National Guard, the Nebraska State Patrol, and Nebraska Task Force One. He said those teams coming together and working together made a difference, and those experiences have informed the way they all train now.

“So we have to continue to look for those opportunities that we haven’t really thought enough about maybe, or haven’t been presented with the demands to think more carefully about it,” Bohac said. “But we continue to do that; continue to look for ways we can be better than we were last time.”

The flood response was both mentally and physically demanding on all the Soldiers, Airmen and civilian responders alike, including Bohac, who often started the day before sunrise and left long after the sunset just to return tomorrow to do it all again.

This new, high operational tempo in a domestic setting called for new ideas to ensure the welfare of all involved. One thing Bohac intuitively realized from past high-tempo experience was the need for a forced tactical pause. To implement this, he invited the Army and Air chaplains to offer a moment of calm and reflection – twice daily – to help everyone center themselves and collect their thoughts.

He also noticed early on the need to give his teammates permission – by example – to take much needed breaks and even days “off” from the seemingly continuous and taxing response.

“Take care of yourself so you can continue to take care of your people,” Bohac said. “One of the risks I think leaders face is ignoring their own health, and their own needs because they feel like they’re going to let down the team. So you have to show others that you, too, can step out, because you trust everybody else that’s left behind, that’s still in the fight… managing the response.”

Bohac said to demonstrate this, he and Bryan Tuma, assistant director for NEMA, would alternate weekend days off to ensure one of them was always present, but the other would get some much needed rest.

Looking back on the experience now, Bohac said there are a few things he hopes everyone will remember if or when they respond to another disaster.

“You’ve got to listen before you speak,” Bohac said. “There’s always a sense of urgency in all of this… but having the patience to get enough information to provide good guidance.”

Communication is something Bohac believes can always be improved upon, both internally and externally. Externally, the need for interpreters became apparent during the 2019 floods, and now – except for a few at the start of the pandemic – are a common staple for all press conferences.

“I do think we’ve become more mindful about those things,” he said.

Internally, after the 2019 floods, Nebraska invested in a statewide radio system that will allow emergency management teams and first responders across the state to communicate more efficiently.

Bohac also believes more personal interaction and greater connections will increase productivity, even now, during a time of increased physical distancing.

“Make direct connections when you can, when you need to,” Bohac said. Email, for example, is great for data sharing, but to convey urgency or emotional tone, he encourages calling directly or even speaking face-to-face if possible.

“I think there would be those that would like to believe you can separate emotion out from all this, (but) that’s just not true,” he said. “I know for me personally I was deeply impacted by the threat to our state. I was worried. I was worried every night.”

He said having those emotions and sharing them with others who can make a difference helped bring about real trust and real response. Being present and in front of the team – sometimes even making jokes at his own expense – helped build confidence in the response effort, from the Governor’s Office, to the SEOC, down to the individual Soldiers and Airmen providing traffic support across the state. And there were plenty of them to go around.

“There was never a shortage of folks wanting to come on duty to help do this work,” Bohac said. “And clearly they performed amazing well.”

Bohac said seeing first hand how Nebraskans helped other Nebraskans was the shining light in darkness of the entire experience. He believes when people see the uniform of an American Soldier or Airmen, that they view it as a sign things are going to start to get better, “because we’re there.”

“And we should never take that for granted,” he said. “We should never assume that. We should earn it each and every day.”

“You never want to see your fellow citizens in peril like that,” he added, “but if they are, then who better than us to respond?”

Reflection, application of lessons learned and advanced training and preparation are paramount to future success for the Nebraska Military Department. When the time comes for Bohac to pass the baton to a new adjutant general, he hopes that individual will be as prepared as possible – with a strong team beside them – for even the most unimaginable events.

“Don’t figure out what you’re supposed to be doing the moment the disaster hits,” Bohac said. “Be engaged across the enterprise. Work to understand it. Develop the relationships that will make, not just you but most importantly, the response apparatus, the organization better because you’ve taken time to invest in those relationships.”

One question frequently asked of Bohac, is why would you rebuild the Camp Ashland Training Site. And while he has a laundry list of answers – including its ideal location, robust history, and extensive operational infrastructure – his usual response is because they have now learned what improvements are needed to protect against future threats.

“Your future response is often predicated on the past event,” Bohac said. “So our response now is to rebuild by elevating the buildings that we can.”

For more reflections by Maj. Gen. Daryl Bohac, watch his full interview here:

Nebraska National Guard Chief Warrant Officer 5 Jeff Caniglia will always look back on the historic floods of 2019 as “life changing” and one of his proudest moments.

In October 2020 – a year and half after the historic floods of 2019 – Caniglia, Nebraska National Guard deputy state aviation officer, reflected on the Guard’s response and the top lessons learned.

Of all the assistance the Nebraska National Guard aviators provided – from hoist rescues, to aerial reconnaissance, and sandbagging support to literally dropping hay to stranded livestock – Caniglia said it was having developed relationships and partnerships outside of the organization that made the response successful for Nebraska.

“From the floods to COVID…I don’t think it’s gonna stop,” Caniglia said. “So we need to keep developing those relationships… because it is a partnership and we’re seeing that more and more now for our responses on a nationwide basis.”

The response to the 2019 floods was the largest helicopter response ever in Nebraska from the Army’s perspective.

“We used the entire fleet,” Caniglia said, “everything we had.”

Caniglia said the long hours and the high-risk nature of those initial missions made the response a deployment for many of the aviators involved. And he is extremely proud of how the crews immediately jumped to action.

“We’re not a 911-type of service,” he said. “We don’t sit postured, ready to go for any type of emergency.”

Caniglia said it normally takes 24-48 hours to respond to larger events, such as hurricanes or wildfires, which is why pre-planning and early anticipation requests for assistance are important.

“Once the Spencer Dam broke, it was an immediate life, limb or eyesight type of response,” he said, and first aviation rescue crews were out the door in less than three hours.

This was also the first time many of the Soldiers involved were responding in their home state. They may have supported other states and completed aerial rescues during flooding caused by hurricanes, or rescues during combat situations, but never before had people’s lives been on the line like this in Nebraska.

In total, the Nebraska National Guard would perform 112 rescues, including 66 hoist rescues – more hoist rescues than on any previous hurricane response. The Nebraska National Guard would also help distribute more than 60 tons of hay to stranded livestock, including writing the standard operating procedures for delivering a “non-standard load” of 2 ton round hay bales by dropping them out the back of an active CH 47-Chinook helicopter.

“It was extremely fulfilling to help our neighbors,” Caniglia said. “I’ve done a lot of flying in the years, multiple combat missions and those kinds of things… but when you make an impact on your own community, or you save lives within your own community… that’s why we join. That’s why we’re part of the Guard. That’s the Guard’s mission, is to be there for our community; to be there for our neighbors. And we were there.”

On Mar. 14, 2019, the initial launch of the aviation rescue helicopters was to answer a distress call to find and extract an elderly, wheelchair bound woman trapped within her flooded home. Unfortunately, due to the high winds, rapid floodwaters, ice chunks, powerlines, trees and more, the Nebraska National Guard helicopter couldn’t reach her – and neither could the swift-water rescue crews from Task Force One, an urban search and rescue team sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Following the floods, the Nebraska National Guard and Task Force One partnered together to create a new program called the Nebraska Helicopter Search and Rescue Team (NE-HSART).

“With that unfortunate loss of life, we found a new program, and that Nebraska HSART program will serve Nebraska,” Canigilia said.

The program will also serve when responding to other disasters across the country, as trained rescue technicians with extraction expertise and others with the HSART can embed with the combat helicopter crews to make for more capable rescue and response efforts.

The Nebraska National Guard has also expanded training plans with multiple partners including first responders, EMS, firefighters and local hospitals. Post-flood response, the Nebraska National Guard, Task Force One and other first responders conduct quarterly training exercises. One of the largest training exercises was Operation Titan Fall, a multi-agency domestic response exercise held on Oct. 19, 2019, in Lincoln.

Operation Titan Fall was designed to test and improve emergency procedures and communication between multiple organizations, as well as local civil authorities and first responders. During the exercise, Nebraska National Guard aviators assisted Task Force One firefighters in extracting simulated victims from Stagecoach Lake using hoist capabilities, and transporting them to nearby CHI Health Saint Elizabeth hospital.

“The first time that they’re getting on a hoist should not be the night their lives are at risk,” Caniglia said, referring to the seven firefighters pulled from the water after their boat capsized responding during the 2019 floods.

Caniglia said the expanded partnership cross-training and the NE-HSART program has increased the Nebraska National Guard’s overall readiness, and is invaluable for preparing for future disaster response.

“We’re way more prepared to respond than we have been in the past,” he said.

For more reflections by Chief Warrant Officer 5 Jeff Caniglia, watch his full interview here:

In October 2020 – a year and a half after the historic floods of 2019 – Bryan Tuma, assistant director for the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), reflects on the state’s response and the top lessons learned.

Perhaps the main takeaway from the events of 2019 was the need for forming partnerships ahead of disasters to be prepared to leverage those partnerships when crisis occurs.

“During the event is not the time you want to be exchanging business cards,” Tuma said. “When you make the investments on the preparedness side, the dividends are recognized on the response side.”

Tuma said NEMA, the Nebraska National Guard and other state agencies did just that. They had already created strong relationships with one another prior to the historic flooding in 2019 which allowed them to respond quickly and efficiently, proving the state has the capacity to respond to major natural disaster events.

“Forging all those relationships on the front end with the planning and preparedness stage – those are invaluable because it’s during the response when you find out how capable you are to address those issues,” he said.

Tuma credits those preparedness relationships – along with the resourcefulness and kindness of Nebraskans – for the successes he witnessed, including heroic rescues, generous donations, and neighbor to neighbor support to those in need.

“The spirit of Nebraskans was on display throughout this event and during recovery,” Tuma said. “If the pioneer spirit lives, I think it’s still here in our state.”

Since the floods, NEMA and the Nebraska National Guard have expanded preparedness training and operations to include building better communication procedures, cross-training with other state and federal agencies, and expanding the knowledge base for emergency response personnel.

Now sitting in the middle of a pandemic, Tuma said many of those same preparedness principles are being applied today, including how the Nebraska National Guard continues to answer the call in new and different ways.

“I think the strength of the Guard is its ability to adapt,” he said. “It’s a tremendous resource for Nebraska.”

For more reflections by Bryan Tuma, watch his full interview here:

When Camp Ashland began to flood in 2019, the cadre followed the training site’s standard operating procedure for evacuating students, staff, materials and equipment safely and quickly to the closest armory in Mead, Nebraska. The SOP – which was updated after the Salt Creek flooded the training site in 2015 – included installing flood doors on all the ground-level buildings; lifting items off the floor and placing them on top of desks and cabinets; and moving vehicles to higher-ground, including to the levee on the far side of the camp along the Platte River.

Unfortunately, the amount of flooding in 2019 was completely unanticipated with more than just overflow from the Salt Creek inundating the camp. Instead, the Platte River levee failed, essentially bringing the river right into the camp, causing floodwaters to rise well above the flood doors, and to pour into the ground-level buildings through the windows and other crevices.

“This historic flooding, really produced a historic event for us,” said Col. Shane Martin, Nebraska Construction and Facilities Management Officer during an October 2020 interview.

Following the SOP from 2015 was the best course of action, Martin said, and in doing so, the Nebraska National Guard safely evacuated more than 200 students and continued to complete their essential basic leadership training to standard.

“We had a great flood plan that was in place, and a great coordination was made ahead of time… and we had very innovative Soldiers,” said Martin, who was also the commander for the 209th Regiment, Regional Training Institute located at Camp Ashland. “A little extra management, and a lot of extra leadership, but it worked well.”

By moving the vehicles to higher-ground on the levee, the Nebraska Army National Guard also saved what would have been hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost equipment.

Floodwater damaged 51 of 62 buildings at the Camp Ashland Training Site, with only the buildings on stilts unscathed. After initial damage assessments were made, the Nebraska National Guard decided to seek additional funding to help rebuild the camp, this time with all its buildings on stilts.

“Besides being strategically located between Lincoln and Omaha – two major airports; besides being on 11,000 acres of training ground; the location, the space available and the amount of infrastructure that’s currently there made it very logical to go ahead and rebuild, especially with understanding the concepts of what will withstand any sort of future flood, should that ever occur,” Martin said.

With the additional funds, the Nebraska National Guard plans to maintain the same square footage, but will consolidate more than 20 older buildings into seven new, connected and stilted buildings that will be more conducive to today’s technologically advanced training requirements. The camp already has its own sewer treatment plant and water treatment plant which were built above flood grade, and are fully intact.

Martin said the Nebraska National Guard is also working closely with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to shore up the levee with multiple layers of protection. Martin said he believes reinforcing the levees should protect Camp Ashland from any future flooding, but should the camp receive water from any direction, there shouldn’t be any damage because all the buildings will be “raised up, and very safe, dry and secure.”

“Think ahead, and expect the absolute worst,” Martin said when asked about his best advice for others in his position. “We kind of thought we did when we put the short flood gates in, but we didn’t think big enough, I guess.”

In his role, he has to plan for emergency response preparations for all Nebraska Army National Guard facilities in the state. He said while planning, he encourages everyone to think, “What if?,” and to think big when doing so. For example, not only how can or will individuals at armories respond to a crisis, but what other ways can the facilities support others across the state?

“These floods and other major emergencies really make you think about how do you do that,” he said.

For more reflections by Col. Shane Martin, watch his full interview here: