The Red Bulletin April 2020

Team Rubicon
TEAM RUBICON
“ALL THE
GRATITUDE
YOU RECEIVE
FROM THE
SURVIVORS
IS JUST SO
POWERFUL”
“It looked like a nuclear wasteland,”
Wood says. “All the trees were snapped
off 8ft [around 2.4m] above the ground
and bent back in one direction, like a
nuclear blast had hit them. Every power
line was down, every building destroyed.”
REBUILDING HOMES AND LIVES
In the reception area of Team Rubicon’s
national operations centre in Grand
Prairie, Texas, is a cartoon mural of
former US President Theodore Roosevelt
in boxing attire, leaning against the ropes
after a tough round in the ring. Alongside
are headshots of the company’s hardest
working employees of the last quarter,
and a quote from Roosevelt’s 1910
speech The Man in the Arena: “It is not
the critic who counts; not the man who
points out how the strong man stumbles,
or where the doer of deeds could have
done them better. The credit belongs to
the man who is actually in the arena,
whose face is marred by dust and sweat
and blood; who strives valiantly…”
“Our CEO thinks the man in the arena
is the one who should get the press and
recognition,” explains William ’TJ’
Porter, deputy director of operational
support, whose own picture is among
those hanging on the wall. After a
13-year career in the military and then
as a law enforcement officer, Porter
joined Team Rubicon in 2012 and has
since been deployed to the aftermaths of
multiple tornadoes, wildfires, and more.
“Team Rubicon sets itself apart [from
other relief organisations] in two ways,”
he explains. “We can either be part of the
response, doing everything from searchand-rescue
to felling trees and opening
up roads, or we can provide direct
assistance to survivors.”
The latter usually involves helping
those with no or little insurance to return
to their home. Team Rubicon will gut the
entire house, then refit new flooring and
dry wall – an initiative that has sparked
a long-term rebuilding programme in
Houston. Assisting in this way is, Porter
says, one of the most gratifying parts of
the job. “When something like [Hurricane
Harvey] happens, people don’t know
where to turn. We get them to a point
where they have a stable house to live
in. All the gratitude you receive from
the survivors is so overwhelming. To see
someone go from being in shock, with
a 20,000-yard stare, to realising ‘Hey,
at least I have something now, and I can
build from there’ is really intoxicating.”
The team’s Texas office is one of three
in the US, housing a total of 150 full-time
staff. Just a short car ride from Dallas, the
base was chosen for its central location
and for its proximity to two international
airports. Team Rubicon moved here in
early 2016 and now has 29 staff working
in the office. There are no fancy
flourishes here; it looks like they turned
up one day four years ago, dumped their
stuff and got to work. It is from this
office that all operations are organised,
including transportation, logistics, field
leadership and mobilisation.
Team Rubicon operates domestically
and internationally, with operations
planning associates Adam Martin,
Lauren Vatier and Jacqueline Pherigo
scrubbing news sources daily to track
developing situations. Should a disaster
occur, the question is whether Team
Rubicon has the capabilities and
resources to support another operation
alongside those already in progress.
“Any time we have volunteers in the
field already, our priority is taking care
of them, whether it’s smaller localised
operations, or volunteers heading to an
international response,” explains Martin.
“What do we need to do to support them?
What do they need today?”
Part of this involves liaising with
other organisations to see what response
is being arranged elsewhere and how
Team Rubicon can best support this,
Vatier explains. Occasionally, the request
for help comes from outside agencies
such as the World Health Organisation
(WHO). It’s a point of pride that,
following a rigorous 18-month process,
Team Rubicon was the first NGO in
North America to be WHO-certified as
a mobile emergency medical team –
“a tough credential to get,” says Porter.
This means that it meets exacting
standards for deploying units to remote
or austere environments and remaining
self-sufficient for up to seven days.
In the back of the office space is
a large warehouse area – essentially
a survivalist’s wet dream – filled with
everything from chainsaws and foldable
cots to tech boxes. Each of the latter
contains three laptops, five iPhones, a
connector, a router and more, ensuring
that each team remains connected in
THE RED BULLETIN 55