Exercise Control (EXCON)

The EXCON plays a most important role in ensuring the USAR team is successful in its IEC/R exercise. The EXCON will be comprised of the most experienced and trained members from its own and partner organisation. The EXCON team members must be dedicated to the EXCON function and cannot be assigned additional roles of responsibility during the IEC/R exercise. The EXCON is responsible to create the scenario, to allow tactical decision making of the USAR team throughout the exercise and to manage all needed injects, prepare and manage worksites, and other pertinent information. It is also required to input information to the VOSOCC and ICMS during all phases of the exercise.

The EXCON is responsible for designing the field exercise (FIELDEX; 36-hour full field exercise) FIELDEX to ensure it is constantly evolving over a minimum of a continuous 36-hour period, and that the scenarios will enable the IEC/R classifiers to observe all the operational and administrative requirements of the IEC/R checklist. Therefore, the IEC/R checklist is always the fundament for the preparation of the worksites. This FIELDEX needs to incorporate all aspects of an international disaster response from the breaking emergency through to demobilisation and return to home base.

It is important that the scenario reflects, as close as possible, the “real life” situation a team is likely to encounter and are developed in such a way that will challenge the team’s operational and administrative expertise, skills and equipment to a level that is commensurate with the level of classification being sought. Therefore, it is important that as well the social and humanitarian conditions and needs of the environment after the disaster are also presented and placed as injects into the exercise. It is important to understand that the exercise is not a skill-set demonstration; meaning that static displays of, e.g., steel cutting, concrete breaking, shoring, heavy-lifting are not acceptable.

For medical portions of the scenarios, appropriate USAR medical expertise should be involved in the development and delivery of confined space victim scenarios. Injects should evolve based on the care provided by the team to ensure realism.

The EXCON is to prevent the USAR team from becoming aware of the details of the scenario and the specific evolutions in the build-up to the IEC/R exercise to retain an element of realism and surprise, as would be the case in a real situation. It is however important to provide information to the team, as the scenario starts and then continues, so the team has sufficient information to develop and implement a Plan of Action.

The head of the EXCON is required to liaise with the USAR team’s stakeholders (INSARAG Operational Focal Point, INSARAG Team Focal Point) to ensure all the IEC/R requirements will be met and that the IEC/R exercise follows the prescribed timeline.

The EXCON is responsible to ensure sufficient technical and tactical tasks and contingency plans are prepared if a rescue activity needs to be repeated and be fully in control of the exercise grounds and driving the FIELDEX through to its conclusion.

EXCON is comprised of the most experienced and trained members of the USAR team, and the success or failure of a USAR team depends on its expertise. Each must have a strong knowledge of internal team policy as well as be trained in the INSARAG methodology. Members need to willingly accept an assignment to EXCON, understand the complexity of the requirement, and have the experience needed to design a plan that meets each of the items on the IEC/R checklist in the confines of a minimum 36-hour exercise.

Joint IEC/R activity will consist of joint EXCON teams from all organisations respectively and have sufficient influence to direct the exercise activity in line with the requirements of their classification.

In any case of need, the mentor supports EXCON in preparing the IEC/R exercise.

Refer to the EU-MODEX-IER Manual for additional information.