"The State of Maine Emergency Management Agency sponsored six regional one day (Command School TTX) programs held throughout the state. The programs were designed to our specifications and attended by first response, emergency management and state agencies. The purpose was to bridge the gap between training with ICS and NIMS and delivering it in an actual event. The trainings allowed us to get full scale exercise dynamics and results in a classroom setting without the planning and large costs. Participants were interested and engaged through the entire program and left a little better prepared at the end of the day."

Mark Belserene, Exercise Officer
Maine Emergency Management Agency

Please accept our sincere thanks for the excellent table top training you provided to Marlboro Township in December 2006. It was thought provoking to learn how necessary it is for forces to work together during times of extreme emergency situations. Our police officers, fire volunteers and first aid squad without question gained an understanding of the importance of establishing a command center and placing one individual in charge, while at the same time, working closely together. With members from two school districts in attendance for one training session, they witnessed first hand how quickly situations can arise and the significance of calling in trained emergency personnel as quickly as possible. Again, our thanks for an excellent training session.

Judy Tiernan, Business Administrator, Township of Marlboro (NJ)

MABAS Division 16 recently hosted Command School to provide training for company and Chief Officers. In addition, we invited local emergency management and dispatch agencies to be part of the training. The Abbottville tabletop simulator really helped to put all the new NIMS requirements into perspective. Our facilitator … did a great job working with all the different organizations. We are confident the training will help us manage incidents at all levels more effectively. I would recommend the training to all emergency agencies looking to improve their Command and Control at emergency incidents.

Keith Krestan, Battalion Chief of Training, Lisle (IL)

Talbot County's emergency services rely on volunteers predominantly. These are fine people who have many responsibilities. They are sensitive to training they perceive to be unnecessary. Abbottville, to our great satisfaction, was an overwhelming success. We had volunteers, firefighters and medical personnel, requesting permission to attend more than one session. In addition, our career responders, police and medical personnel, reacted similarly. We continue to get feedback from our responders concerning their experiences during Abbottville six months later. In addition, we in emergency management feel our responders now have a firm grounding in ICS and NIMS.

Thank you Command School. We will do Abbottville Simulator Training again.”

Bill Dial, Emergency Planner, Talbot
County (MD) Emergency Management
Agency

“... I write this letter to express my deep appreciation and praise for Command School’s comprehensive, professional and innovative to making training and learning as innovative as possible. We have worked with The School for two years now and I have been impressed both with their approach and continuing commitment to quality improvement. I would recommend the program to anyone seeking to implement a table top learning experience.”

Christopher G. Atchison ,
Associate Dean for Public Health Practice,
College of Public Health, University
of Iowa

"I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed your workshop on Monday, April 18, at Springfield High School. I found the day very informative and enriching. God bless your work and you."

Sincerely,
Peg Green, Dean of Student
Affairs, Mt. St. Joseph Academy (PA)

I wanted to thank Command School TTX for our recent (February 2007) table top exercise. During the day we worked hand-in-hand with our local emergency responders form the Fire, Police, EMS, Hospital and State Emergency response organizations. Utilizing our ICS structure and working with the Town ICS structure we were able to provide a greater understanding between both organizations and form a great team. Many lesson learned during the mock emergencies will allow us to provide a greater working knowledge of the systems and provided opportunities to learn from each other. A very excellent training opportunity for all involved.

Rich Brophy, Facility Compliance Manager
Clean Harbors of Connecticut, Inc. - Bristol Site

"In my experience it has become obvious that the fire service has done an outstanding job of incident command on all size incidents for many years, while the Emergency Medical Services has yet to embrace the system. Our Command School facilitator was able to open our eyes to the need of a structured response on each and every call. His presentation was non-threatening and he provided us a comfortable environment to make mistakes, where lives were not in jeopardy so we can do what is correct when lives are on the line.

During our Command School program, many EMS service managers attended and realized our chain of survival as a professional entity is only as strong as
our weakest link. The time has come for the Emergency Medical Service providers to stand up and take a strong hold on the incident command system. If we do, lives will be saved... Perhaps our own!"

Bryan Smith, Director of Resource Management, Emergency Health Services Federation, Inc..

"Command School brought together all the things we have learned in our NIMS courses. During two days, our counties emergency responders from Fire, Police, EMS, EMA, and schools worked side by side implementing the ICS and NIMS. Once again through your table top exercises we have proven that the system works for any type and size of incident. Thank you Command School for the excellent table top training and the knowledgeable facilitator that you provided to Dekalb County Indiana."

Mike VanZile, Fire Chief, Auburn (IN) Fire Department

“The Incident Command Scenario was paramount in beginning each of the scenarios. Each was designed to stress a separate response mechanism. We believe that the exercises presented were valuable for all concerned and certainly emphasized, to the Department of Health’s representatives, how important each of their roles will be in managing disasters. I would highly recommend your company and the personnel who staffed our training.”

Jacquelynn A. Meeks, DrPH,
Director, St. Louis (MO) County Department of Health

“Salem (NH) Fire Department
had experienced a 2 alarm structure fire last night (5/24/04). The interesting thing was that our personnel implemented the concepts of Incident Command that were taught and used at your program. The first alarm companies established command, sectored out their communications by using different radio channels, and used the new incident management team approach. This approach incorporated the use of a command post, command aid, operations, safety, accountability. All personnel where pleased with the results and credited your program for a successful conclusion to the fire. The interesting part was that we just finished your program less then a week ago!! The cultural shift has begun!!! Thanks for the program and it is already showing great returns on our investment!!!”

Michael P. Wallace, Deputy Fire
Chief, Salem (NH) Fire Department

“Thanks to your instructor, many aspects of our plan will be changed and some of his recommendations (especially for equipment) will be purchased. It made my life a lot easier. Again, Command School is to be commended on the strength and expertise of its qualified instructors.”

Linda McAndrew , Trauma Program Coordinator, Community Medical Center (PA)

I chose Command School because of their excellent reputation. They did not let me down. In two days, I had my command staff through refresher ICS school and the difference and improvement on our scene management is evident. In fact, I have directed the training division to plan for Command School to refresh all of the officers in the Knoxville Fire Department. Thanks guys, you did a good job and everyone that attended, (over 40 staff officers) has expressed their satisfaction with the class. I've heard no one say one thing negative. In today's world, that's saying something. "

Carlos Perez, Fire Chief (former), Knoxville (TN) Fire Department

Kris Simmons, West Mead (PA) #2 Volunteer Fire Department