Ideal Operations Center

[Pylon]

Our squadron is in the process of renovating one of our buildings into a classroom and operations building.  The will be a storage room with garage door and "loading dock" access, office space (with its own external door), and a large classroom/operations room which can be converted back and forth depending on the need.   The current command post is too small for our needs, and so that will be converted to the Commander's office and conference room on completion of the project.

We're at the phase now where all the wiring has been completed (whole building wired with coax, ethernet, electrical, and phone, with those nifty 4-jack outlets), and the fresh sheetrock is up and the new windows are in. 

We're ready to start adding amenities, fixtures, and other items to the operations center room and I wanted to ask those with past experience what are some things you've seen or things you've always wished a good CAP operations center had?   Or suggestions on things you'd like to see in a good CAP operations center?

[Matt]

Well, start with the basics: Maps of the State, County (ies, if there is more than one that the Op Center may be used for), and the localities, with Airports Highlighted and place Plexiglass over them as to be able to have a wet-erase board.  Also, a good, well laid-out status board with the same plexi-configuration.  One last thing is the ability to have a live-status board on a wall, i.e. use the wall as a screen with a projector.  It works nicely to have one main screen with a live status board for briefings and live updates from the mounted boards.

There is more that can be done, but it costs a bit more money.

[Psicorp]

A restroom nearby, a small refrigerator (dorm room sized) with a microwave placed on top, a water cooler, and a coffee maker.

Simple things, but they make life so much easier.

Something else I've thought of since the last SAREX I attended:  a large map of the area that is laminated so that dry erase markers/grease pencils can be used to mark locations of interest (i.e. SARSAT hits, ground teams, etc.).

[Major_Chuck]

Our squadron is in the process of renovating one of our buildings into a classroom and operations building.  The will be a storage room with garage door and "loading dock" access, office space (with its own external door), and a large classroom/operations room which can be converted back and forth depending on the need.   The current command post is too small for our needs, and so that will be converted to the Commander's office and conference room on completion of the project.

We're at the phase now where all the wiring has been completed (whole building wired with coax, ethernet, electrical, and phone, with those nifty 4-jack outlets), and the fresh sheetrock is up and the new windows are in. 

We're ready to start adding amenities, fixtures, and other items to the operations center room and I wanted to ask those with past experience what are some things you've seen or things you've always wished a good CAP operations center had?   Or suggestions on things you'd like to see in a good CAP operations center?

Must even have that 'new home' smell.

[Major_Chuck]

A few tips since we are in the process of renovating our hospital command center at work.

1.  For each manned position (Logistics, finance, operations, incident command, safety, public affairs, etc) we've established mission kits (large plastic totes containing office supplies, flashlights, batteries, phone books, vests with job identifier, etc).

2.  Back up supplies.  If you lose power how are you prepared to maintain operations.

3.  Maps, maps, and maps.  Did I say maps?  Make sure they are current, especially if you've got a lot of highway construction going on.  If you can get official maps from county and state governments they are usually more detailed than your general purpose travel maps.

4.  Status boards (and cleaner to get all that dry erase dust off them).

5.  Important Contact Information.  Phone numbers and names of organizations you can count on to support you with information.  Police, fire, rescue, hospital, etc.

6.  A seperate location to rest.  Bathrooms, food, bed/cot.

7.  Fans and or airconditioning. 

8.  chairs and tables (folding banquet tables are best since they provide you with flexibility).

9.  checklists and inventory lists.  So you are ready for the next time.

10.  carpet runner to put down over wires and cables that may get stretched across the room.

[Matt]

Also, to reiterate... Maps... and something easily overlooked on wall maps a lot of times: SAR Gridding... grid them, it'll my the Air Ops a bit happier...  Oh, and speaking of air ops, perhaps a local sectional would be nice.

[ZigZag911]

Space permitting, separate areas for the following functions are ideal:

1) incident commander
2) ops/air branch/ground branch'logistics/finance-admin (large shared area, since
    their tasks interlock)
3) comm (adjancent to ops, but not in same room)
4) planning section (big mistake is that they are often shoe-horned in with
    ops....on a multi-day, or otherwise complex, mission, the planning folks need
    peace, quiet, and space to do their job

Aircrew/ground team briefings should take place away from ops area....only PIC or GTL should get their instructions from the branch director, then does own briefing/sortie planning with team

[Pylon]

Thanks everyone so far for the comments and ideas.  Keep them coming 

We have already make provisions for or considered some of the things mentioned.  There is a second, shielded building right next to the operations building dedicated for communications.  Used to be an old ILS shack.  A 40' tower is also being erected on the airport grounds next to the "comm shack" (I believe they are currently working on all the necessary paperwork and approvals to do that).

6.  A seperate location to rest.  Bathrooms, food, bed/cot.

A restroom nearby, a small refrigerator (dorm room sized) with a microwave placed on top, a water cooler, and a coffee maker.

Simple things, but they make life so much easier.

There is a fourth building with both mens and women's latrines between the ops building and the current offices/future commander's offices.  The latrines are currently non-functional due to some plumbing issues.  That's next on the list of things to address after the ops building renovations are completed.

We were considering the crew rest area and kitchenette as several people suggested.  Both of the aforementioned latrines' rooms are very spacious and have separate external doors.  One idea is to convert one of the rooms into a crew rest area and kitchenette, and make the other latrine room the universal restroom.

Aircrew/ground team briefings should take place away from ops area....only PIC or GTL should get their instructions from the branch director, then does own briefing/sortie planning with team

One of our CFIs brought that up, and the plan was to have the crew briefings in the commander's office & conference room, which is in it's own separate structure adjacent to the ops building.  I think that helps.  If that were occupied, the office in the ops building has doors which can be closed to close it off from the main room and the outdoors if need be -- a sort of backup briefing area if it's not busy.

Think that should do it?

Also, to reiterate... Maps... and something easily overlooked on wall maps a lot of times: SAR Gridding... grid them, it'll my the Air Ops a bit happier...  Oh, and speaking of air ops, perhaps a local sectional would be nice.

Something else I've thought of since the last SAREX I attended:  a large map of the area that is laminated so that dry erase markers/grease pencils can be used to mark locations of interest (i.e. SARSAT hits, ground teams, etc.).

We've got considerable wall space to add maps and sectionals.  I like the ideas of the plastic overlays for marking them up with erasable marker.  Any suggestions on what type of plastic to get for them?  Anybody already sell a product for this purpose?

10.  carpet runner to put down over wires and cables that may get stretched across the room.

Ooh, I hadn't thought of that.  Great point!

Must even have that 'new home' smell.

You bet it does!  I love the smell of sheetrock in the morning!   

7.  Fans and or airconditioning. 

Looks like window A/C units will be the way to go at this point, though it might be worth having one or maybe two oscillating fans around for when it's not super hot and we don't need to burn all that electricity.



Thanks everyone for your input so far.  Please do keep sharing!  Thanks!

[arajca]

You should probably avoid carpet runners to cover cords - that violates most fire codes. There are specifically made cord covers available. They are usually wide triangles in cross section with a couple of hollow areas for cables. Of, it the cables are long enough, run them overhead.

If you have a dropped ceiling (all those funky ceiling tiles), you can run long cables in that space and pull them down when needed. Many rural EOC's do this since they can't justify a dedicated room for an EOC, but need to have the capability when needed. You can run phone, power, network, etc and just have them available when needed. When using as a classroom, everything is tucked away to avoid distractions.

If you can find it, a switchboard and set of phones is great to allow the staff to communicate among themselves without having to run all over the room to pass a short message. The old fashioned, single line desk phones work great. This eliminates radio clutter and the reception issues that some radios have in buildings.

[ZigZag911]

It sounds like an excellent set of buildings for a mission base....I would suggest some kind of intercom system to relay messages between comm shack and the major mission staff areas (ops, IC) as well as the flight line....which obviously means wireless....I've had experience with ISR (intra squad radios, military equivalent of FRS gear), and they work quite nicely over  distances of about 1 to 2 miles maximum....certainly more than needed at any mission base.

[Psicorp]

---"We've got considerable wall space to add maps and sectionals.  I like the ideas of the plastic overlays for marking them up with erasable marker.  Any suggestions on what type of plastic to get for them?  Anybody already sell a product for this purpose?"--


One thing I have seen work rather well is one of those school-grade over-head projectors.  Transparencies are easy to make and reproduce.

[Pylon]

Just to give everyone an idea of what we're working with here, attached is a photo of the buildings.

In front is the commander's office & conference room.  This will also provide crews a place for a quiet briefing away from the busy of the Ops building.  In the middle, the building is divided into two sections, each with separate external doors.  On the far end will be the "crew rest area," with a kitchenette for food and refreshments, and perhaps some cots.  On the near side, restrooms (already installed, just needs some plumbing work). 

In the back in the Operations Building, which is the structure receiving most of the work and upgrades.  It's hard to tell from the photo, but it's bigger than the other structures combined and has a nice open-air pavallion in front of it.

Not in view is the communications "shack" on the far side of ops building.

The complex is on the "secure" side of the airport.

________

Thanks all for the continued suggestions; they're very helpful!  Keep the ideas coming!