Wondering why uniformed members of the Rhode Island National Guard were directing traffic in Bristol on Friday afternoon?

The 118th Military Police Battalion, Rhode Island Army National Guard will be conducting training with units from the Rhode Island Air National Guard and local law enforcement agencies through the weekend. They will be rehearsing emergency response operations following a simulated natural disaster. In this case, the simulated scenario is a re-creation of the effects of Superstorm Sandy in Oct. 2012.

According to Maj. Damian Murphy, a public information officer with the 118th Military Police Battalion, the Battalion is "Rhode Island's designated National Guard Reaction Force (NGRF) — a capability-based task force tailored and equipped to provide civilian law enforcement agencies additional capabilities to meet the many security challenges that arise during disaster relief operations.

"One of the critical challenges the National Guard faces following an emergency is working with outside agencies and, occasionally, other branches of service. Thus an essential focus for the training is improving information sharing and joint interoperability between the two branches of the Rhode Island National Guard and our civilian law enforcement partners."

Soldiers from the 118th Military Police Battalion will be working closely with Bristol Police, as well as police from Coventry and the University of Rhode Island Police in Narragansett, conducting traffic control points and securing designated critical sites.

"The Soldiers in Bristol are only conducting training in support of this exercise, not an actual emergency," said Maj. Murphy.