The S.C. National Guard Vigilant Guard's disaster drill takes responding to a disaster beyond death.
During the week, more than 3,000 National Guardsmen are working with local and state emergency responders to address the aftermath of a mock earthquake.
And, part of natural disaster includes dead people.
"Normally drills just end when someone is identified as dead," said Beaufort County deputy coroner Edward Allen, who was manning the drill's field morgue that is set up on the top of a hill.
He said during the day's events, however, once someone is found dead they follow through as they would in a real situation.
Today, they found two dead people.
Allen said once the person, who was role playing, was found dead in the rubble pile he was brought to the field morgue. There, Allen declared him dead, fingerprinted him, tagged him and zipped him in a body bag.
He said if there were a great number of dead people, someone at the field morgue would activate the state's emergency operation center and get a refridgerated truck to transport the bodies.
Allen said actually following through with the drill, beyond identifying someone as dead, was helpful in knowing what he would have to do should it actually happen.
Linda Holbrook, who works for the Greenville County coroner, said during the day she got a better understanding of how the agencies work together and integrate in a disaster.
Working through situations such as this and giving those who will respond a better understanding is why the disaster drill was designed.
Holbrook said having drills such as this one are important because they prepare towns, cities and states for what will happen in a disaster. She said that was part of why Hurricane Katrina devestated New Orleans so significantly.
"Because of this drill if something like this happened here, I don't think it'd be like New Orleans," Holbrook said. "Drills like this are important to making sure something like New Orleans doesn't happen."

The ghost of Hurricane Katrina hung in the air, not only because hurricane season approaches, but because of the improvements it sparked. One of those improvements readily visible during the drill is the central media center.
The reporters, from television or print, covering this week's S.C. National Guard Vigilant Guard disaster exercise report to the media tent during.
The idea for a central media location was spurred by the need during Hurricane Katrina to have one place to file stories, get information and stay connected said Col. Pete Brooks.
So the media tent illustrates that the lessons learned during natural disasters have been integrated into this drill's operations. It is all part of creating a realistic sense of what will happen when the next disaster strikes.
The tent, which has its own power source, televisions with live news feeds, internet connections and food is about 100 yards long. It has air conditioning or heating, depending on the environment. Behind the tent, is a large generator supplying the electricty.

The Vigilant Guard drill is not all about role playing. The 122 Engineer Batallion of the National Guard, which is assigned to road and clearance in an emergency, helped out the community by clearing debris in ditches for drainage.
The batallion responds in an emergency to clear the way so people such as medical responders can get into the site.
"This is one of the few real world experiences within the drill," said 1st Lt. LeShawn Brown
Brown said it was also good training because they actually get to use their equipment and assess what would be needed in a real situation.

Guardsmen relax after clearing debris