AYUMI NAKANISHI / ANAKANISHI@STARBULLETIN.COM An Army exercise recently held on Kauai simulated an evacuation from two cities in Thailand under possible threat from al-Qaida. Spc. Solomon Sam, 84th Engineers, on ground, acted as a bomb suspect in the exercise. He was restrained by Pfc. Kellen Richardson, left.

Army conducts
evacuation drill

Wheeler air field and Kauai
serve as Thailand in an exercise
to help U.S. civilians in trouble

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By Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.com

The U.S. State Department had ordered an evacuation of embassy staff and dependents and was advising U.S. citizens to leave the country.

Twenty-one civilians waited in a military bus near a makeshift airfield. Just a few days earlier, a bus had been bombed, killing nine Americans. Al-Qaida terrorists threatened that the violence would not stop until all Americans left the country.

Within minutes after a U.S. Air National Guard C-130 cargo plane touched down, the civilians strapped themselves into the red web seats for the 30-minute trip to Bangkok and possibly freedom.

This scenario did not play out somewhere in Southeast Asia, but at Wheeler Army Air Field doubling as a Thai air strip under attack by terrorists. The "civilians" were all members of Schofield Barracks' 45th Corps Support Group (Forward), participating in an evacuation control center exercise earlier this month.

The evacuation control center was not in Bangkok, but at Kauai's Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands 30 minutes away and manned by members of the 524th Corps Support Battalion from Schofield Barracks.

Capt. Audrey Woo, Army spokeswoman, said this was the third time the 524th had run an evacuation control center exercise since it received the mission after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Using two Hawaii Air National Guard C-130 cargo planes, the Army flew 60 "refugees" from Wheeler to Kauai. They were then processed by the 524th's evacuation control center.

Each soldier participating in the exercise was given a card that laid out their personal history. The soldiers were instructed to assume their character and "role play" during the exercise.

Minutes after the C-130 rolled to the edge of the tarmac at Barking Sands, the "refugees" were met by 2nd Lt. James Samuel who asked those with special needs, such as medical or financial, to identify themselves.

The refugees also were told that military policemen would search them in the evacuation center and so they should leave any contraband items in an "amnesty" box before entering the secured evacuation center. But no contraband was voluntarily surrendered. The items listed as contraband were fruits, vegetables, alcoholic beverages, dairy products, flammable products, meats and weapons.

Spc. Ryan Brady, a 25th Military Police Company soldier, and his German Shepherd Elvis searched all bags carried by the refugees before they were hustled onto large Army trucks.

By truck the "refugees" were taken to first of nine stations set up in tents where they again asked if they had special needs or problems. By then soldiers seemed to get into character and one "refugee" yelled, "I need money, man."

Another said they had been given the run-around. "We've been waiting for a long time." Others said they were hungry. Bottled water and coffee were offered.

Before the "refugees" could start the evacuation process, they again were forced to line up to be searched.

"I am not going to allow anyone to open my bag," yelled one refugee. He was told that he would not be allowed to go into the registration area to be processed for a flight out of the country until he and his bag were searched.

The refugee relented. In going through his backpack, Pvt. James Sanders, a 25th Division military policeman, came across contraband items -- a sheath knife, apple, breath mints and a fruit drink. The items were confiscated and the refugee was allowed to proceed to another military policeman who used a military detector to conduct a body search.

After being searched, the refugees were registered and placed on a manifest to leave the country.

Army 2nd Lt. Christina Gutierrez, who was in charge of the registration station, said her job was to help track the refugees by recording their names, Social Security numbers, country identification or passport numbers.

"All that information is entered into our computer here and sent by satellite phone to where they will be going," said Gutierrez, who is normally the battalion's personnel chief.

The refugees also were interviewed during the in-processing by Chief Warrant Officer Sung Park, an intelligence analyst. "The debriefing is to determine whether they are trying to sneak into the United States using false ID."

Throughout the two-day exercise, Army evaluators tossed in "problems" such as a bomb threat, forcing the evacuation of the emergency operating center and bringing in Elvis and his handler to sweep the area. Another refugee suddenly developed what seemed to be a heart attack and Maj. Abad Ahmed, the center's doctor, had to call for medevac helicopter.

Gutierrez said "from everything I have read, this simulation is very close to the real thing."