Soldiers passing in the night before a dimly lit C17 from the 172nd Air Wing of the Mississippi National Guard, are arriving for a training exercise in the Virgin Islands to provide support to civil authorities in a post hurricane training scenario. In the early morning hours of December 13, Caribbean Thunder, and emergency deployment readiness exercise (EDRE) was initiated to validate the capability of the Michigan National Guard to notify, marshal and deploy a ready force of Michigan National Guard Soldiers to the Virgin Islands to provide support to the Virgin Islands National Guard and U.S. Virgin Islands Civil Authorities using a realistic scenario in a live and constructive training environment.