A joint team of Wisconsin National Guard Soldiers, Airmen, and Wisconsin Emergency Management personnel conducted a comprehensive disaster relief training exercise in Papua New Guinea

A joint team of approximately 15 Wisconsin National Guard Soldiers, Airmen, and Wisconsin Emergency Management personnel, alongside representatives from other government and non-governmental organizations, conducted a comprehensive disaster relief training exercise in Lae, Papua New Guinea, from August 11 to 14. The four-day event trained nearly 90 service members from the Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF) and local civilian volunteers in essential humanitarian aid and emergency response procedures.

Sponsored by the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance (CFE-DM), the exercise was supported by personnel from the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Army Pacific Command. The exercise builds upon the formal partnership established in 2020 between Wisconsin and Papua New Guinea under the National Guard’s State Partnership Program, aimed at strengthening regional security, leadership development, engineering, and disaster response throughout the Indo-Pacific.

The curriculum combined classroom instruction, practical hands-on application, and a culminating exercise. Medical training, led by Maj. Heather Herbst, commander of the Wisconsin National Guard’s 135th Medical Company, focused on CPR, choking management, and the M.A.R.C.H. treatment protocol for trauma care. Maj. Herbst noted that equipping service members and volunteers with fundamental lifesaving techniques ensures immediate care can be provided before medical specialists arrive on scene.

Engineers from the Wisconsin Army National Guard’s 229th Engineer Vertical Construction Company instructed participants on rescue knot tying, mechanical advantage systems for debris removal, and structural shoring techniques. Site security training focused on crowd management and safe extraction procedures at distribution points, while IOM representatives facilitated training on camp coordination for displaced populations and led a multi-agency tabletop scenario simulating disaster response sequences.