BY STEVEN M. De LISI AND JON R. DONNELLY
As the commander of an engine company your battalion chief informs you that during your next work shift you are to report to a nearby industrial facility to participate in the annual disaster exercise. On the day of the exercise, you arrive on location ahead of schedule, and representatives of the facility tell you to stage nearby until called to assist. No one ever calls. The exercise ends, and the event is a complete waste of your time.
As a volunteer firefighter, you attend a regional training exercise dealing with terrorism response. Your department is responsible for decontaminating numerous individuals potentially exposed to a chemical nerve agent. Things are going well. You have successfully dealt with all known victims, and you are satisfied with how your assignment is progressing-that is, until an exercise controller, sensing that things are maybe going “too well,” decides to mess up the operation. He tells you that several bystanders have wandered into the hot zone and that they are now contaminated. Your crew scrambles to address this sudden and unexpected turn of events, and you then learn that some of these “bystanders” have now reportedly contaminated medical personnel because of your inability to “do your job.” Evaluators are confused because this situation was not in the scenario script and the exercise safety officer has no idea where the story of the “bystanders” originated and which people are playing the roles of “bystanders.” As expected, the exercise goes downhill in a hurry, and you leave frustrated and angry, seriously considering resigning from your department in the face of this public humiliation.
Although exercises, especially full-scale events that involve deployment of personnel and equipment in a realistic setting, can provide the backdrop for worthwhile training, inadequate planning and improper execution of these events can produce few positive results and can lead to injuries for participants. Leaders of emergency response organizations should remember that full-scale exercises are valuable learning tools that can serve to reinforce positive behavior and provide first responders with a unique opportunity to gain confidence in their abilities. How can you plan and execute a successful full-scale exercise, which can be an overwhelming task?
For many departments today, the answer is to obtain federal and state grant funding and hire contractors to develop and run exercises. This is one approach, but local emergency response organizations should realize that they can develop a successful training exercise themselves, which means they can be held more frequently and the objectives of the exercises can be more easily tailored to the department’s needs.
THE 10-STEP PLAN
It takes about six months to plan a full-scale exercise. Therefore, if you want to hold two exercises a year in your jurisdiction, you would have to start planning the second event soon after you complete the first one. By conducting two exercises each year, local emergency response organizations will improve and maintain proficiency in fire suppression, EMS, hazardous materials, and heavy rescue. Following is a 10-step plan for developing a full-scale exercise. An underlying theme of this process is to plan for success.
Step 1. Identify Exercise Goals
Ask yourself, “Why do we need to do this?” The answer may be to meet requirements for a periodic exercise of a local emergency response plan, to determine if local and state agencies that respond can work together effectively, or to address problems that were evident during a recent incident that did not go very well.
Begin by stipulating the type of event-a mass-casualty incident, a hazardous-materials release, or a terrorist event, for example. Instead of this broad approach, you can tighten the focus of the event-a passenger train derailment, an airplane crash, a highway vehicle accident, or a high-rise structure fire, for example. You can make the goal of the exercise even more specific if the needs of your organization warrant it-managing a leaking chemical rail tank car, dealing with decontamination of mass casualties, or exercising interagency communications, for example.
The exercise goal will influence the scenario’s design. The goal should be neither too broad nor too tightly focused. In the first case, so many ideas may be offered during the design phase that the resulting scenario could be unmanageable. On the other hand, an extremely focused goal will force you to continually evaluate the scenario design to make sure it does not exceed the intended scope of the exercise.
The goal description should be brief, about one or two sentences, as in the following examples:
• To meet annual requirements to conduct an exercise of local and state emergency response plans during a simulated hazardous-materials emergency.
• To enable local and state emergency response agencies to interact with and support emergency operations during a simulated passenger train derailment.
• To exercise existing local emergency operations plans during a simulated response to a leaking rail tank car containing a regulated hazardous material.
Step 2. Identify Stakeholders
Stakeholders are typically agencies or organizations that would likely have an interest in or be involved in the type of event planned. The more focused the exercise goal, the easier it will be to determine who should be included. It is better to be inclusive than exclusive.
In addition to agencies and organizations listed in the emergency response plan, invite other agencies to participate, even if their involvement is minimal; use this opportunity to establish a good working relationship with them. Consider inviting representatives of local, regional, and state associations to participate in the planning process. These associations can provide personnel to serve as evaluators or safety officers and might even provide refreshments for the exercise. At a minimum, their involvement can improve your professional relationships and pay great dividends later on.
Additional stakeholders include government officials. Although it is unlikely that they will participate during the exercise or the planning phase, invite them to observe the exercise. Doing this will enhance your organization’s political standing.
Invite at least one representative from each stakeholder agency or organization to participate as an exercise planner. This ensures that the interests of each, as they relate to the exercise, will be considered throughout the development phase. Identifying stakeholders is probably one of the most important aspects of planning an exercise, and it should be done in a careful and thorough manner early in the development process. Excluding a group or an individual could lead to long-standing tensions between them and your department. This does not mean that you should include groups that will not have a meaningful role during the exercise.
Step 3. Develop Performance Objectives
Performance objectives indicate the knowledge, skills, and abilities (referred to as KSAs) that should be demonstrated during the exercise. These objectives may be identified in an emergency response plan, or they could be based on the KSAs included in employees’ job descriptions. Performance objectives may also be based on the performances of stakeholder agencies during previous real-world events or pertain to the use of new equipment. The performance objectives should be within the constraints of the established exercise goal.
Performance objectives should be measurable and include references to the following aspects:
•Who will perform the task?,br>•What task will be performed?,br>•What equipment will be used?
•What is the standard used to measure success?
Examples of performance objectives that might be used during an exercise include the following:
• Firefighters shall contain the spread of a liquid hazardous material using standard equipment carried on a standard fire apparatus in accordance with department guidelines.
• EMS personnel shall provide patient care for victims exposed to a simulated chemical weapon in accordance with established medical protocols.
• Law enforcement personnel shall establish incident perimeter control in accordance with department guidelines.
Each stakeholder agency that provides participants in the exercise should develop performance objectives for their personnel. Performance objectives should be selected carefully because each will play a role in the later stages of exercise design. They will also serve as the basis for the evaluation mechanism. Therefore, individuals assigned as evaluators during the exercise should be given a list of performance objectives so that they know exactly what activities they should be looking for.
Evaluation forms can include performance objectives separated by function, with separate evaluation forms for activities related to fire suppression, EMS, hazardous-materials response, and law enforcement. Regardless of the arrangement, the evaluation form should never be just a blank sheet of paper. Use a document that clearly presents the desired performance objectives. This ensures that controllers will be in a better position to determine if the objectives were met and ultimately to gauge the success of the overall event.
Step 4. Design a Realistic Scenario
The term “realistic” should be a primary consideration throughout the scenario-development process. A realistic scenario reflects the exercise goals and performance objectives and is plausible based on the characteristics of each locality. As an example, a scenario that involves a leaking rail tank car should include only those products known to be transported by rail in your community. Likewise, a scenario at an industrial facility should be based on the types of hazards likely to be encountered at that facility.
The individuals who develop a scenario influence the outcome of the exercise. Anyone can develop a scenario that will quickly overwhelm participants and ensure failure; however, the underlying philosophy of exercise design is to allow participants an opportunity for success and to reinforce positive behavior.
Some resources may not be available and may need to be simulated, but if too many essential resources are simulated, participants will be less likely to gain a real-world appreciation for the time needed to obtain those resources in a true emergency. An example would be an incident commander needing 20 ambulances for the scenario but only 10 are reasonably available or needing a specialized response team that will never appear during the exercise. Developing a realistic scenario based on available resources provides participants with an opportunity to see these resources in action and to appreciate the real-world and real-time demands necessary for achieving success.
A realistic scenario should also include “script cards” for participants who act as role players-simulated victims, those reporting the incident, dispatchers, and individuals meeting first-arriving units, for example.
Exercise planners must ensure that the statements these role players make are consistent with the scenario and performance objectives. Under most circumstances, role players should not be allowed to freelance or ad lib. These actions can create unrealistic situations and force exercise participants to react in an unplanned manner, creating unsafe situations and making it difficult for exercise evaluators to accurately assess how well the performance objectives were executed.
With regard to communications, especially those involving the use of live radio systems or telephone, ensure that participants state that their exercise message is “a drill.” Other ways to convey this message is for participants to say the words “Exercise – Exercise” before and after each message. This is extremely important so that individuals/organizations not involved in the exercise do not overhear radio and telephone communications (there are many ways this can happen) of the exercise and assume that a serious situation is in progress.
Prepare a short summary of the scenario, including key performance objectives (two or three paragraphs), and distribute it to observers and media representatives at the exercise, especially government officials, so they will know what is taking place.
Step 5. Assign Roles and Responsibilities
Give all participants their assignments in writing; make sure they are clearly stated. Their roles and responsibilities include performance objectives and support roles (exercise controllers, evaluators, safety officers, escorts for government officials, for example) their personnel may fill.
Exercise controllers coordinate the event. Ideally, there should be one controller from each participating agency, and they should operate under a system similar to a unified incident command system. They should not attempt to influence the outcome of the exercise, and their presence should not replace any incident command system that would be established during the event. The controllers ensure that people and logistics are in their proper places before the exercise begins, coordinate exercise activities in accordance with an established schedule (to include start times, briefings, and meals), and provide a safe working environment for all involved.
Also when assigning roles and responsibilities, identify the logistical support expected from these agencies and the number of participants you would like from each agency. Logistics includes apparatus, radios, props (such as mannequins and smoke machines), and emergency response equipment.
Make sure all exercise participants know the exact location of the exercise staging area, the time they are expected to arrive, and whom to contact if they will be delayed.
Although some agencies may not be directly involved in the simulated response, they may still provide important support functions on-site, such as real-world medical standby. They also could be working off-site, covering a fire station, for example.
Step 6. Identify Training Needs
Participants should not be “surprised” with an unannounced exercise. Neither should the planners divulge the details of the scenario to participants. However, the participants should know the performance objectives, and the representatives of each agency or organization involved in planning the exercise should be confident that their members can meet these objectives. The best exercises are those designed to learn what participants know, not what they don’t know.
Providing training to personnel to refresh the skills related to the performance objectives will help ensure that the exercise will reinforce positive behavior. This is especially important when volunteer organizations are involved, since positive reinforcement is a powerful recruitment tool. A negative experience is a surefire way to lose members.
Schedule training far enough in advance of the exercise to allow for maximum participation. Topics selected should be based on the KSAs related to the performance objectives. Training should include hands-on skills with equipment likely to be used during the exercise, reviews of local and state emergency operation plans, and preincident plans for various facilities. Most first responders are not familiar with these types of documents, which frequently are out of sight and out of mind until needed in real life. Then it is usually too late.
Refresher training is a great opportunity for expanding the political base of your organization. Consider conducting training for firefighters at a local rescue squad; training that involves EMS and fire personnel could be held at a fire station. On other occasions, it may be beneficial to conduct training at a “neutral base,” such as a community college. Opportunities for participants to meet each other and develop the basis for working relationships before an exercise can only improve the performance of all involved. Remember to plan for success.
Step 7. Develop a Safety Plan and Site Map
A safety plan and a site map are musts for any exercise. Safety planning includes the safety of participants from hazards directly related to the exercise, such as working from extreme heights or while wearing chemical protective clothing, and safety from real-world hazards, such as traffic and weather.
An important aspect of safety planning is accountability of all personnel, including participants, exercise controllers, evaluators, and observers. Accountability can be enhanced by requiring all participants to check in at the established exercise command post when they arrive at the exercise site and by assigning a representative for each participating agency or organization to account for its personnel. An accounting of all participants should be conducted just prior to the exercise and immediately after, even before a post-incident review is held.
When selecting the exercise site and developing the scenario, make every effort to avoid hazards instead of attempting to protect participants from them-for example, avoid high-traffic areas, steep or uneven terrain, locations where spectators may interfere, and sites that do not provide for adequate parking.
Despite your best efforts, the exercise site likely will include some real-world hazards, however minimal they might be. Assess the problems along with the safeguards for protecting the participants-for traffic, for example, road cones or law enforcement can be used for control; electrical power can be shut down to protect from overhead power lines; and areas that present tripping or falling hazards can be marked by signs or some other means. Other real-world hazards may include snakes and poison ivy. Participants should be made aware of these dangers and ways to avoid them.
Hazards related to the exercise must also be addressed. They might include falling while working atop rail tank cars or from automobiles used for extrication training. In these situations, exercise planners likely would want to provide fall protection for rail tank cars (such as a chain that can be placed between the handrails on top of the car) and isolate potentially hazardous components of automobiles used during the exercise.
The time of year can also affect safety. Avoid extreme cold and hot weather. Some may argue that injecting too much safety into an exercise creates an unrealistic setting (we fight fires during snowstorms and in extreme heat), but it is always difficult to justify injuries that occur during training. Fully assess the potential hazards at the site. Carelessly exposing participants to needlessly dangerous situations can turn an exercise into a disaster and present exercise planners with untold legal problems.
Safety planning should include provisions for real-world medical emergencies, including the availability of EMS personnel with transport capabilities. Remind participants to report all injuries, regardless of their nature, to exercise safety officers.
Safety considerations must include rehab areas where participants can have access to fluids and shelter. Remind participants of the importance of fluid intake before starting any activity that necessitates considerable physical exertion. Of course, portable bathroom facilities should be at the site.
Consider as part of safety planning the operation of emergency apparatus. When using public highways, unless traffic is restricted to the vehicles participating in the exercise, the emergency vehicles “responding” to an incident site should be traveling in a nonemergency or “routine” manner without warning devices and obeying all traffic regulations. No one wants an accident while responding to a “simulated emergency.”
Consider also the safety of those observing the exercise. Among them are people who have little experience in emergency response. If left unattended, they might wander into other areas to get a “closer look.” Their curiosity may not only interfere with the operations but may also increase the potential for injury. One of the best ways to ensure the safety of observers is to assign them a knowledgeable escort. Depending on the scope and size of the exercise, it may be helpful to use a passenger van or bus to transport and “control” observers’ moving about.
Be sure to include in your safety planning instructions for participants who may have to report or respond to a real emergency on the exercise scene. Such emergencies could be on-site and involve exercise participants, be on-site but be unrelated to the exercise, or be off-site and necessitate that participants respond. All of these situations necessitate some means by which exercise controllers can immediately notify participants of a real emergency and shut down the event if necessary.
Exercise planners should establish in advance a signal or message for participants to use to report a real emergency. It could be repetitive air horn blasts or a radio message such as, “Real-world emergency-Exercise terminated.” All participants must know how to react on hearing this signal or message, whether it be reporting to a predetermined emergency staging area where representatives of participating agencies and organizations can account for their personnel or to a prestaged apparatus.
To avoid interruptions in the exercise because of real emergencies, apparatus and crews can be assigned to backfill at fire stations and rescue squads whose crews are at the exercise. These backfill crews often are mutual-aid companies that likely are familiar with the response area. If there is some concern about the ability of mutual-aid companies to find their way around unfamiliar streets, assign members of the local fire department or rescue squads to serve as their guides.
An on-site safety officer should coordinate all efforts directed at ensuring safety. This safety officer should develop a site map that clearly identifies apparatus staging areas, rehab areas, medical stations, emergency staging areas, the locations of real-world hazards, and areas that are off-limits to participants.
The safety officer should also conduct a safety briefing for all participants before the exercise begins and ensure that all personnel are fully aware of the safety precautions to take during the event. Give each participant a copy of the site map.
During large-scale events, you may have to assign additional safety officers to various geographical or functional sectors. Make sure all safety officers are clearly identified-by vests or hats, for example. Assistants to the safety officers should always be able to communicate with the lead safety officer and exercise controllers.
Step 8. Develop an Exercise Schedule
An exercise schedule is a valuable tool for planners and controllers. It gives direction for setting up the event and minimizes the likelihood that important events, such as the exercise debriefing, will be cut short because controllers have “run out of time.”
The most important aspect in developing an exercise schedule is selecting a date for the event. Planners must avoid conflicts with other events that could affect overall participation. Such events might include other training sessions and special occasions such as school graduations, parades, community celebrations, arts and crafts shows, and even sports and musical events. Once a date is selected, consider an alternate or “rain date.” Inclement weather is not the only reason for choosing an alternate date; it might be used if a major real emergency were to occur or in the case of another event, such as a funeral, participants likely would attend.
The exercise schedule should be designed in 15-, 30-, and 60-minute modules. Smaller increments of time are more difficult to manage effectively and increase the potential for running behind. A five- or 10-minute delay may not seem like much, but the psychological impact of being behind schedule can be unnerving.
Include in the schedule activities that will take place prior to the arrival of the participants on the day of the event; they might include positioning vehicles; setting up the exercise control station; orienting personnel serving as role players, safety officers, and evaluators; and distributing and verifying the functioning of portable radios and telephones for controllers and safety officers.
Also, the scene may have to be “set up” the day before: It might be necessary to assemble and place training props, cut off utilities to overhead power lines, deliver portable bathroom facilities, and erect tents, for example.
Exercise planners should tour the site at least 48 hours before the exercise to determine if there have been any unforeseen changes to the site and to ensure that no safety hazards have been overlooked. It is also a good practice to call representatives from the participating agencies to remind them of the event.
Include in the exercise schedule a list of notifications to be made to outside entities to ensure that they are aware of the event. As stated earlier, it is not uncommon when planning an exercise of this scope to have rumors of the presence of a major disaster circulate throughout the emergency response community and over the media channels. In this case, you might find yourself dealing with not only an “alarmed” public but also the self-dispatching of well-meaning, misinformed first responders.
Notify, in addition to those directly involved in the exercise, parties that might be affected if the exercise scenario were real. Examples of such parties include local hospitals, emergency response agencies from surrounding jurisdictions, and the state police.
Include in the exercise schedule “benchmarks” or other indicators that signify that established performance objectives have been met. Controllers must resist the urge to freelance or to “invent” tasks for participants that were not part of the original plans. This not only confuses participants, but it also makes it difficult for evaluators to assess performance because there are no established measurement tools for judging these additional activities.
However, controller “injects” (options for adding additional tasks based on how first responders are performing) can be incorporated when developing the exercise. Key here is the fact that these injects are “planned” and consistent with the established performance objectives.
Exercise controllers might tend to freelance if they believe things are going “too well” and it would be beneficial to “throw a wrench” into the system to see how first responders will react. Keep in mind here, however, that things may be going well because the participants are well trained and know how to meet the established performance objectives. Adding an unplanned activity could complicate the exercise, create unsafe situations, and invite a public relations disaster with many angry and frustrated participants. Always remember to plan for success.
Once established performance objectives have been met, controllers should consider terminating the exercise. Notification of termination should be given to participants and all of the outside entities contacted at the start of the exercise. These notifications are extremely important, since all should know that any “emergencies” that occur after this time would now be “the real thing.”
At termination, controllers should account for the well-being of all personnel and release any mutual-aid units performing station backfill duties.
The final activities on the exercise site include a debriefing session (see Step 9) and restoring the site-removing props; restoring utilities; and removing barricades, portable toilets, and tents, for example. Exercise controllers should thoroughly inspect the site before leaving, to ensure nothing has been overlooked. Say a leaking metal drum with “poison” labels was used as a prop during a hazardous-materials exercise. Failing to remove the drum (or at least the labels) could lead someone unfamiliar with the exercise who might encounter the drum the next day to think it’s the “real thing.”
Step 9. Conduct a Post-Incident Review
A post-incident review should incorporate an evaluation of participants’ ability to meet established performance objectives along with a realistic assessment of the lessons learned or reinforced. The post-incident review is best conducted in two phases, a “hot wash” or informal debriefing immediately following the exercise and a more formal event several days later.
The immediate debriefing should encourage exercise participants to discuss key points and observations directly related to performance objectives. The evaluation forms should be used to maintain order and ensure that these discussions are related to the objectives.
An exercise controller should facilitate this session, to ensure that discussions stay as positive as possible and to avoid any “finger pointing” or affixing blame if some exercise outcomes were not favorable. As much as possible, balance negative outcomes with positive outcomes. During this debriefing session, observers, such as government officials, should be allowed to offer brief comments about the exercise. Providing time for these comments is especially important if high-ranking officials are present, since it allows them the opportunity to be recognized and to thank participants for their efforts.
Remember that at the initial debriefing session, most participants will be tired and looking to go home, so thoughtful comments may be hard to come by, and there may be little time for in-depth discussions. The second and more formal post-incident review will allow participating agencies an opportunity to compile notes and prepare recommendations for improvements. Only select representatives of each participating agency should attend the formal post-incident review. In this way, issues can be discussed at length. An individual not affiliated with the participating agencies should facilitate the formal review.
Using in-house personnel to facilitate this session may fail to produce desired results, since these individuals may be reluctant to identify deficiencies among their own ranks. In-house facilitators may be more easily swayed by a group-think mentality, which suggests that if the group agrees that what was done was great, the group can’t possibly be wrong. Outside facilitators may be willing to offer more objective and realistic observations.
A post-incident review that fails to motivate people to see the need for change and that has no means for holding stakeholders accountable within a specified period of time will end up as nothing more than a useless report stuffed into a file cabinet while all go back to their normal routines, content with the knowledge that they have met their exercise requirements-that is, until the big one hits and the response is no better than before, or perhaps even worse. Don’t let this happen to you.
Step 10. Prepare a Summary Document
A summary document should capture all aspects of the exercise-planning, execution, and review. In this way, the document will serve as a means for tracking lessons learned and reinforced and serve as a template for future exercises. Using a summary document from a previous event will eliminate the need to reinvent the wheel when planning subsequent exercises.
The summary document should begin with a 150- to 200-word statement that enables a reader to quickly learn about the exercise goal, the scenario, the participating agencies, and the outcomes. This “abstract” is especially important when presenting the document to busy government officials, who may not have time to read the details in a lengthy report. It will also help members of the news media who may want to report on the event.
The body of the summary document can be prepared and arranged using the preceding nine steps as an outline. Information on each of the various steps can be indicated with page dividers when incorporated into a three-ring binder.
Make sure you proofread the final document. Check spelling and grammar, and ensure that no agency or organization that contributed to the exercise was left out.
You may even want to consider listing the names of individuals and participating agencies in alphabetical order.
Spelling of names is especially important. An incorrectly spelled name might be viewed as an insult and might diminish the value of the report to the individual affected. It will also diminish the professionalism of the report.
Finally, writing brief thank-you letters and distributing them in a timely manner to individuals, agencies, and organizations is a professional courtesy. Sending a thank-you letter can help ensure participation and support for future events.
• • •
Exercises serve as a tool for administrators to learn about the capabilities of first responders and can reinforce positive behavior while allowing participants an opportunity to gain confidence in their abilities. When planning an exercise, consider what would happen if a disaster were to occur in your community and everyone came prepared. Remember to plan for success. ■
■ STEVEN M. De LISI is deputy chief of the Virginia Air National Guard Fire and Rescue located in Henrico County and a 26-year veteran of the fire service. He has served as a company officer for the Newport News (VA) Fire Department and as a regional training manager for the Virginia Department of Fire Programs. He is a certified hazardous materials specialist and previously served with the Virginia Department of Emergency Management in the Technological Hazards Division. De Lisi has a master’s degree in public safety leadership and has received the Chief Fire Officer Designation from the Commission on Fire Accreditation International.
■ JON R. DONNELLY, a 30-year veteran journalist, retired from The Richmond News Leader as associate city editor in 1989. A Virginia-certified EMT, he has served as executive director of the Old Dominion Emergency Medical Services Alliance, the coordination agency for EMS in a 9,000-square mile region of Central Virginia, since January 2, 1990, and is an advisor to several EMS agencies in Central Virginia. He is a vice chair of the Richmond Metropolitan Medical Response (MMRS) program, a member of the Chesterfield Emergency Planning Committee, and an instructor in Virginia’s mass-casualty incident management and domestic terrorism response programs. He has a bachelor’s degree in history from Wheeling (WV) College, now Wheeling Jesuit University.
EXERCISE PLANNING CHECKLIST
1. Identify exercise goals. Why do we need to do this?
2. Identify stakeholders. What agencies and individuals would play a role during a real situation?
3. Develop performance objectives. What kinds of knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) should be demonstrated during the exercise?
4. Design a realistic scenario. Include activities that will require agencies and individuals to demonstrate their capabilities during the exercise.
5. Assign roles and responsibilities. Determine what equipment and personnel each participating agency will need.
6. Identify training needs. Determine if participants need training in the required KSAs identified earlier.
7. Develop a safety plan and a site map. The safety plan should address real-world hazards and those related to exercise activities.
8. Develop an exercise schedule. Include estimated times for setup, start, and finish and any major events during the scenario, including a post-incident review.
9. Conduct a post-incident review. This is best conducted in two phases: immediately after the event and several days later, to give participants time to compile notes and make recommendations for improvements.
10. Prepare a summary document. Include all activities undertaken for the planning and execution of the exercise; it eliminates the need to “reinvent the wheel” when preparing for the next exercise.
