Auxiliarists Converge on Florida’s East Central Coast for Exercise AUXHERON

By Louis Pernice

On Feb. 25, 2023, over 30 Auxiliarists from multiple flotillas and divisions converged at Kelly Park, Merritt Island, Florida, for Exercise AUXHERON. Participants included an Auxiliary air aircraft, four surface facilities, and two transportable marine very high frequency (VHF) radios. For additional support, a High-Frequency radio established longrange communications between Auxiliary stations in Sectors Jacksonville and Miami that reached beyond VHF line-of-sight limitations.

Jack G. Miller, District Directorate Chief-Response, hailed the complex operational exercise as a great success for the Auxiliary’s Seventh District Response Team. He stated, “A great day in the skies, on land, and the water for the Seventh District Auxiliary! All three branches of the Response Directorate were involved in a very challenging exercise on Saturday. The Response Team successfully demonstrated a ‘live’ search and rescue (SAR) simulated response while providing training for Auxiliary Telecommunications Operators (TCO), and air and surface crews. “I believe it was the most challenging exercise in over 10 years. The event required excellent navigation and superior communication. The USCG Station Commander and the Auxiliary Liaison from Port Canaveral were observers onboard two Auxiliary surface facilities. The USCG Station Commander said that he wanted to incorporate the station in the next exercise. The person in charge, Lou Pernice, Flotilla 16-6, Central Brevard, did an incredible job planning and executing the exercise.”

The overall mission plan consisted of four search and rescue units (SRUs) coordinating with an Auxiliary aircraft supported by a ground-to-air Auxiliary Communications Unit (ACU) to investigate simulated reports of vessels in distress. The ACU used scripted scenario injects to task AUXAIR C8157 to search an area of the Banana River between the SR520 & SR528 Causeways to inves-

Midpage above: Auxiliary vessel Guardian displayed the optional air-surface recognition banner during Operation AUXHERON. From left: Dennis Freiheit, Joe Walsh, Jack Miller (at helm) and Mike Rogers. USCG Auxiliary photo by Jill Bazeley.

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(PIW). The ACU relayed the Lake Placid Airport (LKP) coordinates to the SRUs, which were given different scenarios and individually dispatched to find the kayak, ‘Target 1.’ Once on scene, additional scripted injects were used to present each boat crew with different circumstances as they progressed through the scenario. The four scenarios included multiple PIWs (Victim 1 and Victim 2) with simulated symptoms of hypothermia, heart attack, blunt trauma, rib fractures, knocked overboard, head injury, brief loss of consciousness, anterograde amnesia, and flare residue burns. SRU crews had to assess the situation and determine an effective course of action for their scenario, including the use of the SAR and medical evacuation/medical practitioner (MEDEVAC/MEDICO) check sheets. Coxswains also engaged in scripted consultations with an Auxiliary physician roleplaying as a “Coast Guard flight surgeon.” Scenarios also included a scripted inject for a transfer vessel to remove Victim 1 from the scenario, allowing the active SRU to continue searching for a second PIW (Victim 2). At the conclusion of the scenario, the active SRU reset the targets and relieved another SRU standing by at a safety overwatch position. The SAR evolutions were repeated until all SRUs completed their scenarios and were returned to base at the staging area. The exercise took a total of only 4½ hours to complete.

For this exercise, a new, very low profile, floating rescue manikin was used, barely visible on the water’s surface. It required crews to maintain sharp lookouts and perform several legs of the expanding square search to find. The PIW was repositioned at different coordinates prior to the commencement of each SAR evolution.

While the searches were underway, the TCOs at the command post communicated with Sector Jacksonville and Sector Miami via high frequency (HF). Auxiliary Communications played a key role in this exercise. The message traffic was non-stop from beginning to end. Auxiliary TCO watchstanders at the Command Post were constantly in contact with air and surface facilities receiving and passing traffic back and forth, obtaining ops normal reports, and coordinating searches. They also worked HF links between Sector Jacksonville and Sector Miami.

Greg Hendricks, Auxiliary Sector Coordinator, Sector Jacksonville, stressed the importance of live simulation exercises. “On the water is where we need to train. When you leave that dock, that’s when everything needs to click. All your systems need to be ready,” said Hendricks.

Roger Bonnett, Assistant District Staff Officer-Communications, pointed out how well the three Response Directorate components could collaborate and perform their different missions to attain a common goal. “I was glad to have the opportunity to participate in AUXHERON. The response group’s different parts played a role in the exercise. The exercise was well-planned and executed extremely well. It gave each area of the response team the opportunity to test their skills in a possible real-life SAR incident. We should use AUXHERON as a boilerplate to expand this type of training throughout the Sector and District,” stated Bonnett.

By the end of the day, all the exercise objectives were met. Everybody had a fun, action-packed day while gaining valuable operational experience. The value of pre-event planning using the standardized Incident Command System (ICS) model was emphasized and validated during the execution of AUXHERON. The ICS framework can be used to plan any Auxiliary mission and should be adopted as standard operating procedure moving forward. Through this and future exercises, we strive to improve our ability to effectively provide direct support to the U.S. Coast Guard during critical maritime incidents. Ω

Shadowing Station Tybee ANT Crew

By Susan Moore, Flotilla 10-11, Hilton Head/Bluffton

Susan Moore, Flotilla Staff Officer-Navigation Systems, and Barry Woods, Flotilla Commander, Flotilla 10-11, Hilton Head-Bluffton, received an invitation from BMC John E. Veit, Officer In Charge, aids to navigation team (ANT) Station Tybee, to shadow his ANT on an aids to navigation inspection patrol. The objective was to observe and discuss how the ANT team inspects aids to navigation, such as day beacons and buoys, including testing the light characteristics during daylight.

The coordinated patrol helped us broaden the lines of communication between the ANT team and the Auxiliary Flotilla 10-11 and establish a communication pathway to achieve the private aids to navigation inspection goals for the year. Ω

Top left: FN Jakob Burkett, BM2 Benjamin Jensen, members of the USCG aids to navigation team, Susan Moore, and Barry Woods, Commander, Flotilla 10-11 Hilton Head/Bluffton stand in a vessel under an aid to navigation.

Top right: Susan Moore, Flotilla Staff Officer-Navigation Systems 10-11, Hilton Head/ Bluffton, BM2 Benjamin Jensen, Executive Petty Officer, Aids to Navigation Team Tybee; Barry Woods, Flotilla Commander, Bob Moore Flotilla 10-11. Behind them are FN Jakob Burkett, FN, and George, Dix III of the USCG ANT Team, Station Tybee.