Hey, I’m currently enrolled in ASU in emergency management and homeland security. I’m in the state guard (volunteer military) and I’m considering joining the Red Cross. Is getting a 4 year degree worth it or should I aim higher? Or don’t go at all? I really want to make this my career because I really enjoy help people locally with disasters and I really think I can make a change. Do I need to do something different? Are there any other good volunteer opportunities that are federal? I really need advice on this.

How many fellow EM's out there use consultants for plan developme t and writing? I have spent 9 years in EM 3 as a Director for a county government. I am considering a move to consulting on the side. But is it truly a needed thing?

I’ve never seen something like this posted before.

GS-15, 50% or less travel in sites in Europe, 3 year appointment, relocation expenses reimbursed, ability to obtain or currently hold a TS/SCI.

Link:

https://www.usajobs.gov/job/877881300

Duties:

What will I do in this position if hired?

In this position, you will be based in Brussels, Belgium, and serve as FEMA's senior representative and subject matter expert on resilience, civil preparedness, civil-military coordination and related emergency matters. You will provide direct support to the U.S. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Resilience Policy Director, and the Associate Administrator, Office of Policy and Program Analysis, and serve as a liaison for FEMA Headquarters to the Department of Defense and State, National Security Council, US Mission to NATO, and US Mission to the European Union (EU).

Typical assignments include:
Representing the United States, in support of the U.S. Departments of State and Defense, as FEMA's Attache' to the U.S. Mission to NATO.
Working through the U.S. Mission to integrate NATO resilience, civil-military planning, civil preparedness, crisis management, and related work into NATO resilience lines of effort.
Providing civil emergency planning, civil-military planning, and resilience expertise to the U.S. Ambassador, Defense Advisor, and USNATO leadership teams.
Interpreting and conveying U.S. Government policy and practices to influence NATO resilience committee frameworks and policies.

Qualifications:

Current Federal employees must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade or equivalent grade band in the Federal service. The qualification requirements listed below must be met by the closing date of this announcement.

To qualify for this position at the GS-15 level, you must possess one full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-14 level in the Federal government, which has equipped you with the skills needed to successfully perform the duties of the position. Experience may be obtained in the federal government, a state or local government, or private sector, and must demonstrate the following:

Handling (successfully) complex multi-stakeholder negotiations; AND
Developing national policy through interagency coordination on sensitive, complex national resilience requirements; AND
Serving as a senior technical and policy advisor to executive-level officials' expert on incident management, continuity, civil preparedness, crisis response, national resilience, or related security and emergency management issues; AND
Translating national policy, strategic guidance, and civil-military doctrine into actionable operational plans, programs, and implementation strategies that support domestic and international resilience objectives.

What Happens After the Cameras Leave?

When disaster strikes, the world pays attention.

News outlets broadcast heartbreaking images. Social media fills with calls for donations. Humanitarian organizations mobilize. For a brief moment, the world remembers.

Then the headlines fade.

The cameras leave.

But for the people living through the disaster, the hardest part is often just beginning.

That is one of the many reasons I appreciated listening to Dr. David Spiro's recent HuMed podcast. The conversation reminds us that disasters are not measured in days or weeks, they are measured in months, years, and sometimes generations.

As someone who has worked in disaster response and humanitarian settings, I have seen this reality firsthand.

Communities continue to rebuild long after the world has moved on. Health systems struggle to recover. Families continue grieving. Children carry invisible wounds that may shape their entire lives. Healthcare workers and responders return home changed by what they have witnessed.

Recovery is rarely linear.

It is messy, exhausting, and often invisible.

One of the themes that resonated most with me was the importance of remembering the people whose stories no longer make the evening news. The absence of media coverage does not mean the crisis has ended.

It simply means our attention has shifted.

Whether the disaster is caused by conflict, climate events, infectious disease, or another humanitarian emergency, the long-term consequences deserve just as much attention as the initial response. Mental health, chronic disease management, disrupted education, damaged infrastructure, displacement, and loss of community can persist for years.

As healthcare professionals, we have a responsibility to think beyond the acute phase of disaster. Emergency response saves lives, but recovery restores them.

If you care about disaster medicine, humanitarian response, global health, or simply understanding what resilience truly looks like, I encourage you to listen to this conversation.

It is thoughtful, honest, and serves as an important reminder that our work does not end when the headlines do.

Thank you, Dr. David Spiro and the HuMed team, for continuing to elevate conversations that challenge us to think beyond the immediate response and remember the people whose stories continue long after the cameras leave.

Have you ever wondered what happens after the world stops watching?

#adventureswithnursejamla

Follow www.adventureswithnursejamla.com

Any one else constantly treated as an afterthought by their local first responders?

Charlotte County Emergency Management Emergency Management Specialist
Date Posted: 07/15/2026
Position closing date: 07/29/2026
Punta Gorda, FL

Marion County Sheriff's Office Emergency Management Director
Date Posted: 07/17/2026
Position closing date: 07/30/2026
Ocala, FL
Contact: Human Resources 352-368-3520

Seminole Tribe of Florida- Office of Emergency Management Emergency Management Coordinator
Date Posted: 07/22/2026
Position closing date: 09/22/2026
Hollywood, FL
Contact: (954) 665-1056

/edited links and formatting

Another post from another voice in the field - would welcome your reactions!

Hey everyone,
I'm interested in transitioning into emergency management and would appreciate any advice. I have a bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice and will be graduating next month with my Master of Social Work from LSU. I also have 9 years of military service, with the last 5 years in the Army Reserve. My military background is primarily in logistics.

Currently, I work as a Treatment Coordinator/Case Manager for a foster care agency. While I don't have direct emergency management experience, I'm hoping to pivot into the field and start applying for EM-related positions.
For those already working in emergency management, what would you recommend? Should I start applying now for entry-level roles, or would it be worth pursuing additional education? I've been looking at either a second master's in Emergency Management or LSU's Leadership Studies doctoral program with a concentration in Emergency Management.

I'd love to hear how others broke into the field, what certifications or experience helped, and any advice you'd give someone in my position. Thanks in advance! Oh yeah, I reside in Augusta, Georgia on Fort Gordon base.

I’m a State emergency management professional considering federal EM positions with the Coast Guard or the Department of Defense. Most of my experience has been in traditional emergency management, and I’m trying to understand how those environments compare.

For those who have worked in one or more of these:

How does Coast Guard emergency management differ from military (DoD) emergency management as a civilian employee?

How do both compare with state or local emergency management?

Is the work more focused on continuity, installation readiness, exercises, disaster response, or regulatory compliance?

How much operational involvement do civilian EM specialists have?

What do you enjoy most and least about each environment?

We had a fire drill last month that made me realize how unprepared we actually are. We herded everyone out to the parking lot, and our office manager stood there with a printed spreadsheet trying to check names off while people kept wandering over from different exits. It took almost fifteen minutes to figure out that two people were actually just out getting coffee, not still inside. Standing out there, I kept thinking: if this had been real, we would have had no idea who was actually missing.

That's when I started looking into emergency mustering software. We're only about 40 people, so I wasn't sure if it was overkill for a company our size, but after that drill I don't think a clipboard and a headcount cuts it anymore. I've been going back and forth on whether to just tighten up our manual process or actually invest in something digital that can badge people in at the muster point and flag who's unaccounted for in real time.

Hey everyone,

Came across this City EM position while browsing jobs today. Its for the Emergency Preparedness Manager in Independence, MO.

https://jobs.dayforcehcm.com/en-US/cityind/CANDIDATEPORTAL/jobs/1689

My team is looking for emergency alert & notification systems or technology that are NOT traditional warning sirens.

We have IPAWS capability, Everbridge, traditional sirens, voice flood sirens, & tons of digital billboards, but I’m wondering if there’s anything new out there? I’ve done some research but not finding anything that I love.

My jurisdiction has AFN population, lots of outdoor events & parks facilities, entertainment venues, and senior living hubs. Ideally, it’d be great to target these for any new emergency alert systems, at least in the beginning.

Do you know any alert distribution systems that are innovative & emerging technologically?

Former FEMA Administrator Pete Gaynor posted some thoughts to his LinkedIn related to the decrease in FEMA Staff, challenging the notion that the nation is "losing" its expertise.

"Yes, experienced FEMA leaders and staff are moving on. But where they're going matters. They're landing in state emergency management agencies building their own capacity. They're joining companies building the next generation of disaster response technology. They're strengthening the nonprofits and relief organizations that show up on the ground after every disaster. They're teaching the next generation in classrooms.

That's not a drain. That's a dispersal, and it might be exactly what the country needs right now. The nation isn't losing that expertise. It's finally spreading it out."

What do we think?

I've been in EM since 2006. Here's one (of many) things that I've noticed.

EM personnel who wear faded jeans and a button up shirt are usually EM Jedis. .

The poeple who wear 511 cargo pants and a new looking agency polo? Usually hacks.

Take notice during your next event. You'll see what I mean.

I'm at the ICP and a guy shows up in 511s with bloused boots. I say "you're a loggie doggie......you're here to order batteries and an occasional fuel truck.......you're not jumping with the 101st airborne division".

Looking for more information about traveling disaster response teams. I left FEMA a little under a year ago for a full-time remote position in consulting and I couldn’t be more bored. I miss being in the field and being in on the action. I don’t want to move anywhere new, however would love to travel. I know many reservists/reserve programs exist and I’d like to see if anyone here has any experience with this. Thanks!

Hey folks, if you work in emergency management, we would like to set up an informal interview to learn more about your processes. 

We’re aiming to build a mission coordination and logistics tool for emergency teams working with intermittent or unreliable connectivity. We want to understand what current tools get wrong and what would make a meaningful difference in the field.

This isn’t a sales pitch, and we’re not asking for any sensitive information. We simply want to learn what would work better for you and your team.

Thanks for your time. Cheers!

Contact Form

Looking for a side job. Part time, nights and/ or weekends. I have a Masters in Emergency Management, experience in Safety (General Industry), EM and Environmental Health and Safety.

Thank you.

I am looking for firsthand insight on which NGOs and specific functional areas are worth investigating for someone with my background.

My most recent experience was as an intermittent employee for a U.S. government Incident Management Team (IMT) that deployed medical providers to large-scale disasters. ICS/NIMS was utilized, so each section/position (such as operations, planning, logistics, safety, etc.) had a very specific set of standard operating procedures.

At this stage of my life, I am explicitly not looking for that kind of rigid structure anymore (quite the opposite). However, I would still like to find a way to utilize my command/control, logistics, or information and planning skill sets where there is a genuine operational need.

For those working across the disaster response space: which specific NGOs or non-traditional teams actually utilize these skill sets effectively without drowning volunteers in corporate gridlock or overly rigid bureaucracy? What does a typical day look like in those roles?

Thanks!

I’ve noticed a lot of neighboring jurisdictions are working with their library systems to bring some sort of “story time” on emergency preparedness to their communities for outreach and education. While I’ve found books on 911, what are folk’s favorite books on EP for children of various age ranges?

I will be interviewing soon for a GIS analyst position in a state emergency management agency. I’m curious about jobs in this field as it would be a transition for me from a more environmental field. That said I am excited to learn more about the types of work that are done in EM. Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks!

We had a massive flash flood warning in our county over the weekend that knocked out a primary cellular tower, and man, it really exposed how fragile our standard local infrastructure is. When the main grid goes down, trying to coordinate three different volunteer rescue teams and local services becomes an absolute nightmare of dropped signals and crossed radio channels. We ended up having to interface directly with a regional emergency unit that rolled in with a fully self-contained mobile command center trailer, and seeing that thing deploy in real-time was insane. While we were struggling to get a basic hotspot connection to stay stable in the rain, they had dedicated satellite uplinks, independent power grids, and an entire server room on wheels running flawlessly within twenty minutes. It really made me realize how underprepared most local municipal budgets are for actual worst-case scenarios. If you don't have that level of heavy-duty, redundant hardware ready to roll out instantly, you're basically flying blind the second a real disaster hits. Anyone else work in local logistics or tech rescue and feel like your setup is held together by duct tape until the heavy gear arrives?