Defense Nuclear Weapons School Reserve Component trains Boston Marathon first responders

Photo By Ann Fox | Staff Sgt. Nicholas H. Martin, Defense Nuclear Weapons School, teaches the “Medical Effects of Ionized Nuclear Radiation” module of the IRNIR Course at the DNWS, November 2012. Martin is a member of the Mobile Training Team based at Kirtland AFB that traveled to Minnesota to teach the Minnesota National Guard CERF. (Photo by Lt. Col. Michael D. Black, Defense Nuclear Weapons School Reserve Component)  

KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, NM, UNITED STATES

05.23.2013

Courtesy Story

Defense Threat Reduction Agency

By Col. Lisa Day and Staff Sgt. Nicholas Martin, Defense Nuclear Weapons School Reserve Component

KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. - Terrorists planted bombs near the finish line of the annual Boston Marathon killing three people and injuring more than 200, April 15.

Some first emergency responders to the attack received prior training on terrorist incident response from Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s Defense Nuclear Weapons School Reserve Component located at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico.

Included among the responders were members of the New York-based 24th National Guard Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team and the Massachusetts CST.

The mission of the DNWS RC is to provide radiological and nuclear incident response instruction to local, tribal, state, and federal agency personnel. RC instructors bring relevant and timely subject matter expertise from diverse fields to the nation’s first responders. This instruction helps prepare responders for both natural and terrorist incidents, including radiological or nuclear events.

The media has reported that the bombing suspects built pressure cooker bombs using instructions found in Al Qaeda’s "Inspire" magazine, a publication highlighted in radiological terrorism instruction at DNWS. In the Boston attack, the suspects utilized conventional bombs: an attack using nuclear, biological or explosive weapons remains a threat to the United States.

The DOD, and other federal, state and local agencies take this threat seriously because response training remains a priority for both the responders and those who provide training.

DNWS’ Introduction to Radiological and Nuclear Incident Response course supports the development of radiological and nuclear response expertise for first and second responders, incident commanders, CST, and National Guard, military, and civilian personnel. This course directly supports a DTRA primary mission, Consequence Management.

The IRNIR course is open to regional participants when offered “on the road,” which provides DOD, federal, and local responders the opportunity to train together prior to a crisis—in other words, "left of boom."

• Date Taken: 05.23.2013
• Date Posted: 06.27.2013 15:14
• Story ID: 109396
• Location: KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, NM, US