CAMP ATTERBURY, Ind. –
Inside the SENTINEL, a specialized vehicle with an assortment of communications equipment and satellite capability, two television screens provide the only light at Camp Atterbury, Ind. Blurred silhouettes of people appear on the screen, with occasional bursts of distorted audio accompanying their discussions.
For Army Brig. Gen. John Hashem, the deputy commanding general of U.S. Army North, or ARNORTH, at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, and the exercise control deputy director for Vibrant Response 17, or VR17, these video teleconferencing calls highlight an essential part of his daily routine throughout VR17, which ran April 17-May 13.
“Vibrant Response is our exercise that validates force structures that belong to ARNORTH or Northern Command to respond to catastrophic incidents and manmade or natural disasters,” Hashem said.
One of Hashem’s primary responsibilities is to provide general oversight of Task Force 76, the collaborative effort of the 76th Operational Response Command, Salt Lake City, Utah, that unifies operations and sustainment units for Defense Support of Civil Authorities events.
“My role is to ensure that Task Force 76 can deploy themselves into an effective area and respond with different and very technical mission sets of mass decontamination, medical needs, logistics, clearing debris, and critical life-saving capabilities,” Hashem said. “We have to confirm that they can perform the mission.”
According to Hashem, VR17 marks the first time the U.S. Army Reserve’s 78th Training Division, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., has been authorized to execute the field training exercise portion of the mission in a linked exercise called Guardian Response 17. It is also the first year back on mission for Task Force 46, from the 46th Military Police Command and part of the Michigan National Guard. The unit had last been on mission in 2014. TF46 is TF76’s counterpart for response to a catastrophic disaster.
“For previous years, Vibrant Response has been done by staff from the Joint Response Training Center,” Hashem said. “It’s really groundbreaking for the Army Reserve in that it allows us to not only be in the response mode, but to train and exercise the forces and their capabilities they are bringing in preparation for disasters.”
Hashem began his Army Reserve enlistment in 1984 as an engineer, subsequently earning his commission two years later as an active-duty infantry officer. Later on in his career, Hashem’s vocational occupancies extended to psychological operations, strategic plans and policy, and homeland security.
“The Army Reserve matched me up to this position because of my extensive background in homeland operations and civil support,” Hashem said. “One of my tasks was to build an operational-level headquarters for NORTHCOM in Washington, D.C. I would later be the military assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for homeland defense for three years in the Pentagon.”
Although this is his first assignment as a general officer, Hashem has already made a favorable impression upon his command staff.
“I think he is doing a great job so far in integrating himself with the operation and into the command team,” said Army Lt. Col. Rodolfo Martinez, ARNORTH modeling and simulations chief. “We’ve been sitting with him daily, getting his guidance on his experience to drive this exercise along.”
“It’s been a great experience working with him,” said Army Lt. Col. Michael Bugaj, the exercise chief of VR17 from ARNORTH. “He’s been a very even-keeled leader, he’s very common sense, he listens, takes input, takes a lot of factors into consideration before he makes his decisions, and he’s been very good for this exercise. He definitely got us in the right direction.”
ARNORTH conducts the VR training exercises annually to validate and confirm the capability of federal response forces to meet the expectations of the nation in times of crisis.
“Our headquarters over here is absolutely incredible,” Hashem said. “They’ve come together as a well-integrated, high-speed, high energy staff to come work on these problem sets, provide the technical expertise, and the response needed on the ground.”