Part of the DRI Foundation Veterans Outreach Program (VOP) efforts to spread business continuity expertise includes spreading the word among military and government leaders. That’s why the VOP crossed the Atlantic to help the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) provide training at Morón Airforce Base in Spain!
Taking a grassroots approach, the VOP has been reaching leaders at key locations and commands to help them enhance their Continuity of Operations Planning (COOP) capabilities – a mission-critical responsibility required by Presidential Policy Directive 40 (PPD-40). While some training exists to help those assigned COOP roles, the VOP has sought to show military professionals and the DOD exactly how the Business Continuity (BCLE 2000) course and a CBCP certification can improve their ability to better think about continuity and ultimately benefit their COOP capabilities to meet presidential and departmental continuity policies.
This led to discussions with Morón Airforce Base (AB) Commander, Lt. Col. Chris Curry, and VOP project lead Alan Lake (Colonel, USAF – Ret.), and the base agreed to hold a BCLE 2000 course – with a surprising feather in the DRI Foundation’s cap.
It was a unique experience, as it was the first time the DOD had agreed to put VOP on formal orders. These orders would officially elevate the VOP and BCLE 2000 as an incomparable resource for helping the DOD to better implement COOP. The formality of these orders, and the resources created for Morón AB to socialize the program and provide further training opportunities, also reached military leaders at other European stations.
Understanding the importance of this milestone, VOP Co-Chair Chris Bygum worked with leaders at Morón AB to set up and finalize myriad details that ultimately made the course happen this past January. The large 31-person class was pooled from Morón AB, Lajes Airforce Base from Portugal, and Naval Station Rota from Spain, including two members from the Spanish military. All course attendees subsequently received their CBCP certification.
“No program currently exists that can fully assist active military units to enhance their COOP in a manner that understands and compliments current DOD capability in a way that leverages the VOP’s level of knowledge,” said Bygum. “As such, the base commander felt our training was a win-win for the military. These formal orders were a major milestone – it has set a precedent that DRI has been officially recognized and elevated by the DoD as globally recognized providers of business continuity/COOP instruction.”
“Ability is nothing without opportunity,” as Napoleon once said. The VOP looks for these opportunities with the DOD. The grassroots efforts by the VOP not only help military and veterans become DRI Certified Professionals in business continuity and COOP, but is using its military insight to create high demand and more formal training opportunities to improve DOD continuity and serve those protecting our future.