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CAMP ATTERBURY, Ind. – About 5,500 civil and military personnel from 28 U.S. states and territories have arrived here and at the Muscatatuck Urban Training Complex in Butlerville, Indiana, in preparation for Vibrant Response 14, the nation’s premiere Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Response Enterprise (CRE) disaster response exercise, to be held July 21 - Aug. 7.
This year marks the first time the Indiana Department of Homeland Security will participate along side the Department of Defense, FEMA, National Technical, Nuclear Forensics (NTNF), and the FBI, in this multi-agency exercise.
VR14 is a major field training exercise directed by U.S. Northern Command and executed by U.S. Army North. Service members and civilians from the military and other federal and state agencies throughout the country are training to respond to a catastrophic domestic incident. As the U.S. Northern Command Joint Force Land Component Command, Army North executes timely federal military response in support of civil authorities to disasters in the homeland to help the American people in a time of need.
The exercise was created to prepare DOD CRE lifesaving elements to respond to a worst-case scenario event on the American home front. However, due to the extreme nature of the event, the skills the participants learn during the two-and-a-half week exercise prepare them to respond in a timely manner to just about any homeland disaster.
“We’re preparing for the worst day in America,” said Col. Lawrence Terranova, Army North Chief of Exercises. “We’re robustly training to make sure we’re ready. We take this very seriously.”
VR14 is designed to confirm the readiness of the DOD CRE but additional planning has incorporated multiple agencies so they can work together as they would in a real-world disaster situation. Some of the training will include urban and aerial search and rescue missions, simulated mass-decontamination operations, airlift, and medical training.
“This kind of training is extremely important,” said Col. David Imhof, Army North Training and Exercise Officer. “We will always be supporting some other agency in homeland disaster relief, so it’s important to create opportunities to work together to understand how our partners operate.”
In an effort to simulate the most realistic and demanding disaster environment possible, the training scenarios the exercise participants will work through will feature fire and smoke effects, mannequins and civilian role-players, and sophisticated computer simulations.
“We want Americans to know we’re prepared for this type of disaster,” said Terranova. “We owe it to them to be ready.”
“There’s nothing more important than protecting the citizens and freedoms we enjoy in the United States,” said Imhof. “We’re here for an event with our partners that allows us to train on how we would support those citizens in a time of disaster.”
| Date Taken: | 07.20.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 07.20.2014 18:25 |
| Story ID: | 136657 |
| Location: | CAMP ATTERBURY, IN, US |
| Web Views: | 1,232 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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