CORTLANDT – Members of the New York Guard, the state’s all-volunteer state defense force, are spending two days this week practicing emergency disaster response at Camp Smith outside Peekskill in the Town of Cortlandt.

The Thursday and Friday drill is based on a hurricane scenario with search and rescue and chemical decontamination teams going through their training.

Gen. Michael Van Patton is commander of the New York Guard. “The New York Guard is an augmentation force to the National Guard, so when there have been various state emergency operations such as the fires, the floods, the ice storms, etc., our people have, in fact, participated right along with the National Guard in the aid to civil authorities,” he said.

The New York Guard is one of 26 state defense forces authorized under federal law and cannot be called into federal service as the National Guard can. The New York Guard always works for the governor, does not deploy oversees and its members normally do not get paid.