National Guard specialty units train for extreme crisis situations

Photo By Staff Sgt. Russell Klika | Army and Air National Guard members assigned to the Ohio National Guard's Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear Enhanced Response Force Package (CERFP) practice extracting victims trapped in the rubble of a collapsed building during Vigilant Guard, a joint military and civilian training exercise simulating the detonation of an improvised nuclear device in a major metropolitan area May 10. Rubble and debris pose a challenge for the service members conducting operations at Muscatatuk Urban Training Center near North Vernon, Ind.  

MUSCATATUCK URBAN TRAINING CENTER, IN, UNITED STATES

05.15.2007

Story by Sgt. Brian Johnson 

216th Engineer Battalion

MUSCATATUCK URBAN TRAINING CENTER, Ind. - If a major catastrophe or crisis had happened in Ohio, like Sept. 11, or a building collapse, or a nuclear bomb had been detonated, who would help to resolve the crisis? How about the first responders of the Ohio National Guard?

Members of the Ohio National Guard’s Chemical Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and High-yield Explosive Enhanced Response Force Package, or CERFP, recently
conducted a simulation exercise to test their response to a crisis situation in Indiana.

The CERFP is comprised of a select group of soldiers based underneath the 155th Chemical Battalion in Middletown. The CERFP consists of four elements—search and extraction, decontamination, medical, and command and control—and is comprised of established chemical, engineer, and medical units from throughout the state. The team provides immediate response capabilities to search damaged buildings, evacuate areas and buildings that may be in a danger zone, rescue trapped casualties, decontaminate personnel, and perform medical triage.

The 1194th is the search and extraction, or S & E, element if the CERFP. The team’s main mission is to help respond to a major crisis situation.

The S&E team recently took part in Operation Vigilant Guard. The mission consisted of a simulated 10-kiloton nuclear device detonation at Muscatatuck Urban Training Center near Mount Vernon, Indiana. More than 3000 National Guard personnel from Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky and other states participated.

Team commander 2nd Lt. Travis Ressler said the soldiers have completed some of the best training possible prior to the exercise.

“The unit’s initial training was provided by RIG [Response International Group] based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma,” Ressler said. “RIG is considered the expert in search and extraction. They were the first on the scene at the Murra Building Explosion in Oklahoma City. They have also aided in other missions to include helping with the recovery efforts of the Space Shuttle Columbia, Sept. 11, and also Hurricane Katrina. All of these instances are good examples of the types of training that the members of the CERFP could/will be called upon to perform.”

Adding the CERFP element to the Ohio National Guard is a major addition to the arsenal of capabilities that are available to the governor and the citizens of Ohio. “The ability to respond quickly and decisively to almost any disaster will immediately lower the severity of the incident,” Ressler said.

“It was rough. This exercise was hard both mentally and physically,” said Sgt. Scott Carrozza of Hillsboro. “I felt it was a very good training and learning experience. This simulation was as close to a real-life scenario as possible.”

Staff Sgt. Thomas Drzik of Green said the unit’s main role was to pull people out of the rubble piles and rescue people.

“We ran the show,” he said. “If we could not do our job, no one else would be able to work. Without the S&E, the medical and decontamination groups had no mission.”

Drzik said that the training was extremely intense and reassuring.

“We were able to take any situation that was thrown at us and deal with it well,” he said. “Our trainers and evaluators said that they were extremely impressed with us.”

Traditionally, there has always been a healthy, cross-branch rivalry between the Army and the Air Force. Drzik noted that there was none of that evident during this exercise.

“The Air Force medics that are part of the CERFP were outstanding. They worked extremely well with their Army counterparts,” he said. “We may be wearing two different designs of uniforms, but we both were focused on the one mission.”

“I am proud of these soldiers and am honored to be allowed to lead them,” Ressler said. “Their dedication to the mission and their fellow citizens is in keeping with the highest standards of the “Minuteman.”

• Date Taken: 05.15.2007
• Date Posted: 04.07.2015 23:05
• Story ID: 159373
• Location: MUSCATATUCK URBAN TRAINING CENTER, IN, US