Volunteer pilots, photographers aid Alaska Shield disaster exercise
Ron Preston (right), a Civil Air Patrol mission pilot, flies on a damage assessment mission as part of Alaska Shield March 29, 2014. Jeff Morton (left), on a Civil Air Patrol mission, is a trained photographer/observer who photographs critical infrastructure such as energy facilities and then documents damage and sends the data to federal officials for analysis. Alaska Shield 14 is an exercise that involves state, federal, military, and local agencies, designed to test response and coordination efforts during a disaster and is modeled after the 1964 earthquake and subsequent tsunami that devastated much of South Central Alaska. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Ryan A. Swanson)