U.S. Army Launches "Operation Swift Survey" in City of Cerritos

If you are out and about in the city of Cerritos on Thursday, don't be alarmed if you see more than a dozen soldiers in Humvees rolling through city streets. There is no disaster, these soliders are actually here to learn.

Starting today, members of the U.S. Army Reserves will be in town to launch "Operation Swift Survey" -- a two-day joint exercise between the city of Cerritos and the Army Civil Affairs unit to help military personnel better understand the inner workings of the city and its government.

What is the Civil Affairs Unit?

As part of the U.S. Army Civil Affairs & Psychological Operations Command (Airborne), the Civil Affairs units serve as a liaison to military commanders by working with civilian authorities and civilian populations in the area of operations during peace, contingency operations, disasters or war.

“Our job is to support the military commander by providing civilian information so they can make the best judgement when it comes to dealing with civilian authority in the commander’s area of operation,” said Army Civil Affairs Lt. Jonathan Yung.

The five core tasks of Civil Affairs units are:

1. Support Civil Authorities
2. Foreign Humanitarian Aid
3. Nation Assistance
4. Population Resource Control
5. Civil Information Management

“Say for instance in a disaster, our unit would jump in to help address the needs of the civilian government and its people by helping to coordinate or distribute aid and supplies depending on the needs of the civilian populace,” the lieutenant explained.

There are roughly 250 Army reserves in Civil Affairs units nationwide, with several soldiers currently deployed in Afghanistan, according to Yung.

Why Is This Taking Place in Cerritos?

Because the U.S. Army Civil Affairs unit has worked with the city on lower-scaled training exercises in the past, Yung said Cerritos was the ideal community to host a more in-depth operation, which will help teach the soldiers how a civilian government and populace effectively functions.

“We chose Cerritos because it’s a very organized city, with departments and operations that are very efficient. We’re basically here to learn what ‘right’ looks like,” he added. “The city of Cerritos was so enthusiastic about this and they are welcoming us and providing the training and teaching we’ll need.”

Operation Swift Survey begins today with daylong classroom instruction that allows the unit to better understand the framework of the city.

“City department representatives will teach us what they do, and how their piece of the puzzle helps the city run as a whole,” Yung said.

On Thursday, the operation takes more of a hands-on approach as the soldiers roll out to different portions of the city – escorted by deputies from the 's Special Assignment team – to “interact, touch, smell and feel different parts of government operations,” the lieutenant said.

“We’ll spend Thursday getting a tour of some of the different city facilities and doing site assessments to get an even better understanding of how things work,” Yung added. “This will give us some hands-on practical training with city representatives showing us different things to look for … like in the public works department what piping or tools are used for certain situations.”

Yung went on to explain how these on-site visits would work in an actual military operation.

“If we were to do this in Afghanistan, our unit would go into a village and assess needs of that village, making note of the civilian needs for survival, including food, water, shelter, and clothing.”

But Yung emphasized that while the presence of the unit may come as a surprise to many local residents, the intent is not to disrupt the normal operations of the city.

“While the city and members of the sheriff’s station will be helping to facilitate this operation at every turn, we understand there is still a city that needs to be run here.”

When and Where Will All of This Take Place?

Twenty members of the U.S. Army Civil Affairs unit will be taking part in the two-day operation starting with classroom instruction at the on Wednesday, May 2. Then continuing on Thursday, May 3 with groups of soldiers deploying from starting at 9 a.m. 

Editor's Note: Patch will publish photos and video from the scene of "Operation Swift Survey." 

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