FORT EUSTIS, Va. –
The Department of Defense (DoD) Defense Support of Civil Support Authorities (DSCA) II course was held July 16-19 at the Joint Task Force Civil Support (JTF-CS) headquarters at Fort Eustis, VA. Its purpose was to educate members of the United States military and other federal agencies in planning, coordinating, executing and supporting DSCA operations. The course was administered in three distinct phases: Phase I is an 8-hour distance learning preparatory course, Phase II is a 3.5 day resident course, and Phase III is continuing education through alumni updates. The course was sponsored for the Department of Defense by United States Northern Command and conducted by United States Army North.
The class consisted of 62 students from the different military branches as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The DSCA II course covered several different aspects of DSCA, to include the legal aspects, crisis communication, civil disaster operations response, Defense Coordination Officer/Element (DCO-DCE) and Incident Awareness and Assessment (IAA). Throughout the course, students were quizzed on the topics they learned and held several group break-away sessions, where they further discussed and reviewed specific scenarios and topics.