"Everyone has a role, provides value to the organization, and can contribute to the success of the
mission on some level - sometimes in unforeseen ways.”
Emergency Preparedness Planner Brandon Christensen started his military career as a ROTC recruit at
the University of Arizona. In his 20 years in the Navy, he served on four naval submarines – the USSs
Indianapolis, Pasadena, Portsmouth and San Juan. By 2012, Christensen and his family had lived all
across the United States and Germany and were looking for the right place to settle down and finish out
his time in the Navy.
“I was in Stuttgart, Germany working for AFRICOM and European command and one of the jobs for my
rank and position was as an ROTC instructor,” Christensen said. When an NROTC position opened up at
OSU, it seemed like a perfect fit. He spent his final three years in the Navy as NROTC Commander and
Executive Officer at OSU’s Corvallis campus.
After spending his entire career in the military, Christensen had mixed feelings about retirement. When
he learned that staying in the Navy would mean another move from Corvallis back to San Diego,
Christensen decided that he didn’t want to put his family through another separation. Retirement
seemed like the right choice. But it also left him with time on his hands.
“I started volunteering with the Benton County Community Emergency Response Team and Team
Rubicon,” Christensen explained. Team Rubicon is veteran-led, organization that mobilizes to provide
disaster and crisis relief across the United States and around the world.
The volunteer work spurred Christensen’s interest in emergency management, which led to him
pursuing certificates and additional training the field.
And then – the pandemic happened. Christensen’s volunteer work with Benton County CERT pivoted to
assisting Samaritan Health Services with organizing the COVID-19 vaccination clinics at Reser Stadium.
That’s where he met Mike Bamberger, emergency preparedness manager at OSU.
“I started talking to him and this emergency planner position became open, so I applied for it and started
working in Emergency Management, whereas before I was volunteering,” Christensen said.
Christensen said that there are significant parallels between his military career and his current role,
especially when it comes to running training exercises and developing EOPs (Emergency Operating Plans)
for units and departments across the university.
“Because I came from the submarine force, we're very procedure minded and we don't operate the
reactor just based on what we feel like that day,” he explained. “Everything is a written procedure.”
EOPs establish policy and procedure for emergency scenarios such as earthquakes, fires, active shooters
and other threats to public safety. Emergency Management currently manages and updates over 100
different EOPs and conducts trainings to ensure that staff are able to respond effectively during a crisis
situation.
Christensen said that military training emphasizes the unique role each person plays in accomplishing a
shared goal and DFA veterans bring that mindset with them to their civilian careers.
“Everyone has a role, provides value to the organization and can contribute to the success of the mission
on some level,” he said. “Sometimes in unforeseen ways.”
