State Guard Operations Group holds its first annual training

by Maj. (CA) Steven S. Rosenthal
California State Guard Operations Group

Aug. 9, 2020

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – The recently constituted California State Guard Operations Group held its first annual training, Aug. 6-9, 2020, at Camp San Luis Obispo.

Under the command of California State Guard Col. Jon R. Siepmann, 72 officers and enlisted personnel – organized in five operational detachments – joined headquarters staff to participate in the training.

Ops Group, an initiative of Maj. Gen. Jay M. Coggan, commander of the state guard, stood up in July 2019 to provide infrastructure support in crisis situations and in support of state and local personnel responding to safety and security challenges. 

A principal focus of the annual training was a tabletop exercise for service members to respond to a simulated earthquake in Southern California. As part of the exercise, the Mission Support Detachment erected temporary operations, living, and storage structures and supporting power and electrical facilities. The Emergency Communications Group created a fully functional communications center at the tactical operations center, which provided continual real-time communications with assets in the field.

Other detachments supporting the exercise included the Interagency Liaison Detachment, which establishes liaison between the Operations Group and other state and local agencies responding to the simulated emergency.

The Cyber Operations Detachment supported the operations center and other sites in preventing cyber intrusion into the state guard’s communications infrastructure.

In addition to supporting the tabletop exercise, the Search and Rescue Detachment also engaged in a live simulated mountain rescue of a stranded and injured hiker.

Coggan observed the tabletop exercise and accompanied search and rescue members for a portion of its mountain rescue exercise.

The group's first annual training served as a culmination of training activities conducted by each detachment over the past year in both Northern and Southern California. During that time, group personnel have been regularly called into active service to provide support to over 40 missions.