FEMA Regions | Army War College Foundation, INC.

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FEMA Regions

Tony Funkhouser, RES ‘07

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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been in support of FEMA under the national emergency response framework via Emergency Support Function 3 where we have rapidly pushed our subject matter experts to states while working closely with Public Health Services, Department of Defense (DOD), and Army. LTG Todd Semonite (RES ’99) has been personally engaged with the President and with the State Governors. We were very aggressive to develop fast and simple engineering solutions to support States’ ability to upscale their bed space in areas impacted by the COVID-19 virus. To date (April 24th), we have conducted over 1126 surveys around the U.S. and awarded the expansion of 32 facilities for a capacity of over 14,615 beds. We continue to support FEMA and keep DOD, Army, and others apprised of our efforts.

I’ve included a picture of me briefing SEC Murphy, GEN McConville, and LTG Semonite on the template of converting arenas and hotels into alternate care facilities to house patients.

MG Anthony C. ‘Tony’ Funkhouser, P.E.
Resident Class of 2007
DCG, Military and International Operations
HQ, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Christine Borgognoni, DDE ’19

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During this COVID-19 crisis, Christine is working in FEMA Region IX Regional Response Coordination Center coordinating Federal Partners to assess and address critical supply chain vulnerabilities and shortages for food and commodities, transportation, and fuel across the FEMA IX area of responsibility.

COL Christine C. Borgognoni
Preparedness and Analysis Branch Chief
National Preparedness Division
FEMA Region IX

Bern Ruiz, RES ‘02

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Bern is a Federal Coordinating Officer, supporting the Commonwealth of Northern Marianas (CNMI). He is coordinating Health and Human Services (HHS) and other Federal Partners to support the CNMI in developing plans for quarantine/isolation facilities, potential alternative care sites, and tracking PPE in support of the COVID-19 response.

COL (Ret) Benigno ‘Bern’ Ruiz
Resident Class of 2002
FEMA

John Pippy, DDE ‘17

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John Pippy, DDE ‘17

One of the most rewarding aspects of being a member of the Pennsylvania National Guard is our ability to respond quickly when the citizens of our Commonwealth need us. There’s a special sense of pride and duty that comes along with aiding our fellow Pennsylvanians. When providing military support to civil authorities, I serve as the PA Task Force North (PTF-N) Commander and the FEMA Region 3 Homeland Response Force (HRF) Commander. These are joint organizations that are comprised of extremely capable Soldiers and Airmen with many specialties ranging from combat arms, engineer, military police, medical, chemical, logistics and other capabilities. In addition, the units identified as the Homeland Response Force and CBRN Task Force elements within the HRF conduct specialized training every year and are able to respond very quickly to domestic emergencies. Our CBRN Task Force unit was instrumental in the initial planning, set up, and the first few weeks of testing at the Montgomery County Community Based Testing Site-COVID-19 (CBTS); initially testing over 3700 individuals in a two-week period. They seamlessly integrated with the forces from PTF-South and transitioned the mission over to PTF-S after training them on safe testing and decon procedures. Following that first CBTS mission, members from the CBRN TF also helped plan, train and set up a second COVID-19 CBTS in Luzerne County. We responded quickly to mission needs starting in mid-March and currently we have had over 250 Soldiers and Airman from PTF-N supporting missions from testing sites, to medical site support, medical planning and a host of other support missions. Everyone is motivated and proud to serve.

COL John R. Pippy
Distance Class of 2017
Commander, 55 MEB, 28th ID
Commander, HRF FEMA Reg. III
PAARNG

 

Jocelyn Leventhal, DDE ‘16

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Just a few months short of retirement, COL Jocelyn Leventhal, the Parker Chair of Reserve Component Studies at the U.S. Army War College, was expeditiously recruited by BG Doug Cherry, DDE ‘10 and Commander, 76th Operational Response Command (ORC), to help lead the nation’s Defense Support of Civil Authorities (DSCA) COVID-19 response as Deputy Commanding Officer for Joint Task Force-West in FEMA Regions VIII, IX and X.

COL Jocelyn A. Leventhal
Distance Class of 2016
Deputy Commander – Operations
JTF-West/TF-76/76th Div (Operational Response)
Salt Lake City, UT

Tom Asbery, RES ‘16

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Tom assumed command of the New York District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on June 8, 2017. He is responsible for the Corps’ water resource development, navigation, and regulatory activities in northeastern New Jersey, eastern and south-central New York State, including the New York and New Jersey Harbor and Long Island, as well as areas of Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. He is also responsible for supporting FEMA Mission Assignments tied to disaster response, including the current COVID-19 Pandemic that’s had significant impacts across the tristate area and the Nation. New York District currently has more than 134 members of its 580+ workforce dedicated to the COVID-19 response. The District has assessed 35 Sites and constructed 4 Alternate Care Facilities (ACFs) that will provide 4,268 beds for additional patient capacity across New York City and the surrounding counties. The District has completed an Alternate Care Facility at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, which is open and accepting patients, and will be completing three more ACFs at Westchester County Center, SUNY Old Westbury, and Stony Brook University by April 25, 2020. “This has been an absolute humbling experience for me to be surrounded by true American Heroes represented by our Corps of Engineers Workforce: the Contractors that are building the facilities, the Health Professionals that are and will operate the facilities and all the Federal, State, and Local officials that demonstrated superior leadership to guide our response mission. This is a tremendous effort and a fantastic example of how everyone at all levels of government can come together in the face of adversity and work to overcome it.”

Colonel Thomas D. ‘Tom’ Asbery
Resident Class of 2016