WASHINGTON (NNS) - Naval District Washington (NDW) hosted a three-day Regional Operations Center (ROC) Operations course on the Washington Navy Yard, Nov. 14 - 16.

The ROC Operations course, held triennially, is required for all ROCs throughout the Commander, Navy Installations Command (CNIC) enterprise. The course involves baseline training, open discussion, a series of scenario-based tabletop exercises and a final evaluation exercise.

"On a daily basis we all have our routine duties and responsibilities," said James Pelkofski, NDW director of operations. "When an emergency happens, we then shift out of those routines and into an operational mode. The way the region executes its operational support of the installations is through the activation of the ROC and the Crisis Action Team."

"For our ROC and CAT training we're really getting a reboot of how we want to operate. We have a tremendous assortment of experienced and talented individuals who comprise our CAT. What we owe them is a much more defined process. Similar to how we're pushing at the installation level to fully adopt the incident command system, we're going to adopt that system within our ROC," said Pelkofski.

The objective of the training is to streamline response from the CAT so that they can better serve installations in the event of an emergency
"If an incident occurs at an installation, they'll activate their emergency operations center," said Jeff Sanford, NDW emergency management director. "Their resources are finite, and they look to the region to support their efforts in terms of resources, equipment, supplies and personnel. We can draw upon other installations and help out that other installation in need."

The course was attended by NDW personnel from around the region and training is delivered by personnel assigned to the Shore Operations Training Group.

"Any time you take the talent in that room and ask them to take three days of their busy schedules to attend an event like this, it's an imposition. In this case the value-added benefit outweighs any kind of imposition on individual schedules because we gain far more of as a team and a region by upping our game through the attendance of this course and the results it provides," said Pelkofski.

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