WINDER, Ga. — Twenty-seven Georgia State Defense Force (GSDF) Soldiers assigned to Bravo Company, Georgia Force Assistance Brigade North, earned Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) certification during training Sept. 19–20, 2026, at the Army Aviation Support Facility in Winder.
The training marked the first time the GFAB North S3 Training Regional Training Institute (S3T RTI) conducted CERT training for an entire company and represented the culmination of a months-long effort to establish an organic CERT instructional capability within GFAB North.
The initiative began during the winter with discussions between Bravo Company Commander 2nd Lt. Steven Strickland and Spc. Ashley Still. Strickland formally submitted a request for support May 4 to develop the training opportunity for the company.
That effort advanced in July when Sgt. 1st Class Kevin Sandlin, Still and Sgt. 1st Class Clausell attended the Community Emergency Response Team Train-the-Trainer (CERT TtT) course conducted at the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency (GEMA/HS) training facility in Forsyth, Ga. The three-day course, conducted July 13–15, qualified them to teach the official CERT curriculum.
Sandlin, team leader and noncommissioned officer in charge of the GFAB North S3T RTI, and Still, an RTI instructor, subsequently delivered the September course to Bravo Company Soldiers.
Although CERT courses have previously been conducted for groups of GSDF Soldiers, those courses were taught by local municipal CERT instructors. The Bravo Company course was the first in which the GFAB North RTI used GSDF instructors qualified to teach the official CERT program to train an entire company.
Training covered core CERT subjects including disaster preparedness and emergency planning, fire safety and utility controls, disaster medical operations, light search and rescue operations, and disaster psychology and team organization.
With 27 Soldiers completing the course, more than 70 percent of Bravo Company is now CERT certified when combined with Soldiers who had already earned the qualification.
“We train hard so we can provide ready forces here at home when Georgia communities need us,” Strickland said. “CERT training gives our Soldiers additional capabilities to rapidly respond, integrate with local partners, and support our state during emergencies. That is exactly what being a ready force for Georgia is about.”
The CERT curriculum complements Bravo Company’s military occupational specialty training and expands upon foundational emergency-services skills used during disaster response and other domestic operations. The company is scheduled to continue MOS-focused training during annual training in October.
The additional capability directly supports GSDF mission-essential tasks, particularly search and rescue and assistance to Georgia communities, while strengthening the unit’s ability to support GEMA/HS, county emergency management agencies, law enforcement agencies and other response partners.
The training also demonstrated the value of professional military education delivered directly to field units. GFAB North leaders are considering the Bravo Company effort as a potential model for expanding similar training opportunities throughout the brigade during training year 2027.
For GFAB North, the weekend represented more than completion of another course. An idea identified at the company level progressed through formal training channels, instructor qualification and ultimately the development of an additional capability that can now be delivered within the organization.
The GSDF is a component of the Georgia Department of Defense, alongside the Georgia Army National Guard and Georgia Air National Guard.
PHOTO: Georgia State Defense Force Soldiers and instructors participating in Bravo Company, GFAB North, CERT training pose for a group photo Sept. 20, 2026, at the Army Aviation Support Facility in Winder, Ga.
(Georgia State Defense Force photo by Sgt. 1st Class Duane Sherman)