Dissertation

Military and Civilian Responder Perspectives of Hurricane Sandy: A Qualitative Case Study

Michels, Mark

2016

Overview

The perspectives of civilian and military responders to Hurricane Sandy are important to understand in order to implement future improvements for natural disasters. The primary focus is the obstacles that Title 10 military responders observed while deployed to Hurricane Sandy on a Defense Support to Civil Authorities (DSCA) mission. The researcher employed a qualitative case study method to assess the perspectives of civilian and military responders. The already documented response obstacles in literature originated from command and control issues, having different chains of command, and clarification of roles and authorities that a Dual Status Commander has within a multi-Title response such as Title 10, 32 and 14. The specific problem statement was that the perspectives of Title 10 military responders concerning documented obstacles during deployment to natural disasters were not well understood. Furthermore, the purpose of the qualitative case study was to examine the perspectives of Title 10 military responders who respond to natural disasters in order to gain a better understanding of the obstacles that they face. Study participants were from the states of Virginia, New York, and New Jersey. The study participants consisted of 14 civilian and military responders who deployed to Hurricane Sandy; these people represent different military Title authorities as well as civilian responders from different tactical, operational, and strategic operational levels. The plan was to conduct one-on-one and group interviews at various locations however, time and funding were not available for travel so phone interviews were conducted as the alternate method of data collection. The case study lays the foundation for future research.

• Publisher: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
• Subject: Military studies / Political science / Public policy
• ISBN: 1369320442, 9781369320442