A week after a cyber attack exercise shut down electricity on almost all of the Army’s most populated installation, leadership is offering soldiers and their families a chance to recoup their costs.
Fort Bragg, N.C., residents can file a claim with the post’s judge advocate general, according to a Thursday Facebook post.
“Following the exercise, we’ve received a number of inquiries about claims for food that spoiled as a result of the power outage,” the statement said.
The outage, a simulated cyber attack meant to coincide with an 82nd Airborne Division deployment exercise, was meant to test the community’s ability to rebound from an attack and still get troops off on their mission.
“Last week’s power outage exercise caught many in the community off guard, showing us just how dependent we are on technology in our everyday lives,” the statement said.
The outage began the night of April 24 and lasted for about 12 hours, affecting everything from food to refrigerated medications ― both those stored in homes but also at pharmacies on post. Post officials issued an apology later that afternoon.
“We understand the exercise conducted caused concern for many within our community and surrounding areas ... for that, we apologize,” the statement said. “However ... we had to identify ways to keep FortBragg mission capable.”
Starting Monday, the JAG’s claims division will be accepting reports. Peter Straub, the chief of the division, can be reached at (910) 396-7505 or peter.j.straub.civ@mail.mil.
Meghann Myers is the Pentagon bureau chief at Military Times. She covers operations, policy, personnel, leadership and other issues affecting service members.
