In this conversation, Maribel and Cody discuss various topics, including their faith and how it keeps them grounded and helps with their work-life balance in the field of emergency management and how respecting each other's faith and family is crucial in maintaining a strong relationship. They continue the conversation with discussing how their faith helps them avoid burnout and deal with the stress of the job. 

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In this episode, Cody and Maribel discuss the recent AT&T outage and its impact on voting sites during an election. They introduce their guest, Daniel Blount, who has extensive experience in radio communications. Daniel shares his background in civil air patrol and ham radio and discusses the recent wildfires in the Texas Panhandle. The importance of redundancies in communications and the need for radio caches are also highlighted. The conversation concludes with a discussion on the balance between efficiency and preparedness in emergency management. The conversation explores the availability of radios and the challenges faced in obtaining them. It discusses different radio systems, the difference between simplex and repeated channels, and the use of patching at the console. The conversation also touches on building a communication platform, satellite communications, and the role of ham radio as a backup. It delves into packet radio and APRS, ham radio license classes, and the concerns of EMP and cybersecurity. The conversation concludes with the importance of backup communication options and the need for an immediate action plan and family. In this conversation, the topics discussed include communication redundancies, the use of drones and mesh networks for communication, the role of the Civil Air Patrol in emergency management, the integration of radios in aircraft. Other topics covered include the adoption of ICS by law enforcement, the importance of training and using communications effectively, the role of dispatch and EOC communication, the need for ham radio licenses in EOCs, and the organization of ham radio drills. 

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Summary

In this episode, Cody and Maribel discuss their absence from the podcast and express gratitude for the continued support from listeners. They reflect on the passage of time since the COVID-19 pandemic, recent changes in emergency management in Texas, including realignment and the introduction of new positions. They highlight the importance of productive busyness, discuss using ChatGPT for writing letters, the potential of AI,  the Enhanced Incident and Unified Management course, upcoming events and projects, concerns about TikTok and UAS, and electric vehicles and emergency planning. Maribel and Cody discuss their plans for the podcast in 2024 and express their excitement for the upcoming year. The hosts express their gratitude to the listeners for their support and feedback. The conversation concludes with closing remarks and anticipation for a fun 2024.

Takeaways

Changes in emergency management in Texas, such as realignment of regions and new positions, have impacted the field.

Productive busyness and effective coordination are essential in emergency management.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to enhance emergency management practices and improve decision-making.

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On this episodes we talk about why we took a summer break which has a lot to do with summer conferences. We discuss the ones we went to, the benefits and some unconventional conferences that EMs may not go to often. We also spend time discussing the summer heat wave and wildfires that have created so many problems here in Texas this summer. 

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This is the second of two episodes with recently retired Master Gunnery Sergeant Justin Aiken who served in the United States Marine Corps for 31 years. 

Our initial plan was for this interview to be mostly focused around what lessons we could learn from someone who served at the highest level about leadership and training. However, to prepare for the interview, Master Guns Aiken spent weeks listening to all our podcast and doing independent research about the EM profession as a whole. We quickly realized we needed to soak up as much knowledge and wisdom as we could. So we didn't take breaks and didn't worry about time. The end result was just short of three hours soaking up knowledge and wisdom from someone who achieved the highest rank possible in the Marine Corps, in the most difficult job field to do it in, the infantry. Additionally, Master Guns Aiken was the senior enlisted infantry advocate to the Commandant of the Marine Corps. There are only around 75 infantry Master Guns in the entire Marine Corps and only one is selected as the infantry advocate.

In this episode we discuss the importance of the EM profession from out outsiders point of view, the importance of professional identity, and existing in the shadows vs. advocating for your profession. . 

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This is the first of two episodes with recently retired Master Gunnery Sergeant Justin Aiken who served in the United States Marine Corps for 31 years. 

Our initial plan was for this interview to be mostly focused around what lessons we could learn from someone who served at the highest level about leadership and training. However, to prepare for the interview, Master Guns Aiken spent weeks listening to all our podcast and doing independent research about the EM profession as a whole. We quickly realized we needed to soak up as much knowledge and wisdom as we could. So we didn't take breaks and didn't worry about time. The end result was just short of three hours soaking up knowledge and wisdom from someone who achieved the highest rank possible in the Marine Corps, in the most difficult job field to do it in, the infantry. Additionally, Master Guns Aiken was the senior enlisted infantry advocate to the Commandant of the Marine Corps. There are only around 75 infantry Master Guns in the entire Marine Corps and only one is selected as the infantry advocate.

In this episode we talk about leadership, training, burnout, mental health, and learn from Master Guns about 'Post-Traumatic Winning.' 

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There were some audio quality issues on the recording for this episode... The quality improves at around the 15 minute mark.

In this episode, we interview Julie Elliot about her research and recently published article in the Journal of Emergency Management; Moved to partner: A case study of faith-based congregations in disaster response. Julie was first a field practitioner as the Emergency Management Coordinator for the University of North Texas before becoming a PhD Candidate at the University of Delaware. 

We speak about her experience as an EM at UNT and the preparedness programs she created there as well as what led to the decision to leave the field to become a researcher before diving into the focus of her research. Julie shares how this transition has led her to to have more questions than answers and how she hopes her research will benefit those still serving in the field. 

Link to Julies Article:

https://wmpllc.org/ojs/index.php/jem/article/view/3353

Contact Julie at: [email protected]

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On this episode, we had the opportunity to sit down with Jennifer Dunn, Warning Coordination Meteorologist from the Fort Worth Office of the National Weather Service (NWS-FW). We discuss her role within the NWS and the role of NWS as a whole. Of course, we dive into the coordination between NWS and local Emergency Management. 

We also discuss topics such as being colorblind and being able to interpret weather data, NWS products useful for more than just predicting weather, and the future of NWSChat. 

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On this episode, we talk about  defining what an Emergency Manager is and discuss the reasons why defining out job and scope of practice is becoming a topic of conversation more and more often. Additionally, we discuss the challenges of coming up with a common definition, discuss the scope of EM, and talk about why we think being interviewed by Joe Rogan would help us come up with a definition. 

App discussed on the episode: https://www.jesip.org.uk/#

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Our first Episode of Season 2 covers the Columbia Space Shuttle Disaster on the 20 year anniversary. We had the opportunity to interview Irish Hancock, EM Administrator for the Arlington Fire Department, Office of Emergency Management. Irish was in his final semester at the University of North Texas when the disaster happened and was given the opportunity to intern with the Texas Division of Emergency Management in response to the disaster. Irish shares his experience being and intern on a national disaster and tragedy and discusses how that event still impacts his career 20 years later.

This episode is sponsored by DragonForce, a mobile team collaboration platform that delivers mission-critical command and control and incident management capabilities. Visit dragonforce.us for more information. Use discount code 'CEM' for 50% off your initial setup fee. 

Reference Articles:

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/columbia-mission-ends-in-disaster

https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/reflections-loss-sts-107-space-shuttle-columbia-ten-years-ago

https://www.thinkreliability.com/case_studies/root-cause-analysis-the-space-shuttle-columbia-disaster/

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