Annual Exercise Fast Approaching

I'm sure you've heard the old adage "Practice makes perfect." Most if not all of us have called on that familiar phrase some time in our lives as encouragement to persist in developing a talent of one kind or another. It was only within the last year or two, however, that I heard a more accurate variation of that saying: "Perfect practice makes perfect."

That certainly makes sense to me. I may practice shooting baskets for hours a day, but if I don't practice using the perfect form, the perfect motion, the perfect follow through each time, I probably won't see any improvement in my overall shooting skill.

Tooele County Emergency Management (TCEM) also believes that perfect practice makes perfect. That's why TCEM is working with several jurisdictions and government and volunteer agencies to plan, conduct, and participate in the 2008 annual, full-scale, CSEPP Exercise.

There will be an incident at a local military installation, as well as other unrelated emergencies outside the installation boundaries. The exercise scenario will require various emergency responses including activation of the Tooele County Emergency Operations Center, the Tooele Community Joint Information Center, a Reception Center for evacuees, and local medical care facilities. There will be professional responders wearing full protective equipment and operating emergency response vehicles. There will even be mock accident victims complete with moulage, or mock injury make up.

As in past years, residents of Tooele County may view these emergency response operations in relation to the mock disaster drill. All that emergency activity may be alarming to passers-by that aren't aware that an exercise is in progress. But it's no reason for alarm. It's all just pretend.

Tooele County is known as one of the best prepared counties in the state, if not in the nation. It got that way be conducting these major exercises each year and refining its response capabilities and plans. We don't know when something disastrous may come our way for real. So we'll continue to apply that newly revised, old adage: "Perfect practice makes perfect."