Courtesy Photo | Army Staff Sgt. Julia Stearns (left), and Spc. Stephen Sprague (right), 563rd Military...... read more read more
By Army Spc. Marc A. Heaton
CAMP ATTERBURY, Ind. - A nuclear “dirty bomb” has detonated in a major city in America’s heartland. Area hospitals and first-responders are overwhelmed, food and water are scarce and citizens are in need. Heeding a call for assistance, the secretary of Defense authorizes U.S. Northern Command to deploy the military’s chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and high- yield explosive Consequence Management Response Force to support the recovery efforts. It is precisely this type of scenario that U.S. Army North, along with more than 900 active and Reserve Component service members, Department of Defense civilians, and contractors with the CCMRF are preparing for during Exercise Vibrant Response 11.1, in Southern Indiana, March 11-20.
Vibrant Response 11.1 is a large-scale, multi-agency exercise that takes place across multiple locations, including Camp Atterbury, Muscatatuck Urban Training Center in North Vernon, Ind., and Fort Monroe, Va., home of Joint Task Force Civil Support. This exercise is one of many designed to test Northern Command and U.S. Army North’s ability to perform its mission to save lives, prevent further injuries, and provide temporary critical support during a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive (CBRNE) incident in the United States and its territories and possessions.
“I’ve charged my planners with stretching the responding units to the max, and then some,” said Lt. Gen. Guy Swan III, commanding general, U.S. Army North and Fort Sam Houston, Texas. “I consider Army North as ‘America’s Insurance Policy,’ and we need to make sure that policy is ready and able to support our nation.”
The exercise is designed to simulate a nuclear detonation on U.S. soil and will take CCMRF and JTF-CS step-by-step through the process of deploying to and supporting the affected local communities. This training is essential to ensure these units are prepared to execute their missions in the event of a real disaster.
“All-in all, we try to create an environment and mission sets for the training participants that is as close to the real thing as possible,” said Paul Condon, joint exercise planner for U.S. Army North. “The days are long, but ultimately worth the effort when you see the young men and women demonstrate and hone their skills.”
Muscatatuck Urban Training Center (MUTC) in southern Indiana serves as “ground-zero” for the exercise. MUTC spans 1,000 acres and more than 65 buildings, including a hospital, multi-level office buildings, houses, apartments and markets. The training center is set to look much like a destroyed city following a disaster such as this, with collapsed buildings, destroyed vehicles and debris everywhere. Hundreds of contracted “survivors,” complete with artificial wounds, wander the area to test the Soldiers’ ability to handle distressed fellow Americans with appropriate care and concern.
With smoke filling the air, fires burning, flipped vehicles, collapsed buildings and screaming victims, the scene conveys an unspeakable act and looks more like a Hollywood movie set or a Disney theme park than a military training exercise. The facility is designed to provide realism and immediacy to the training.
“It’s good training,” said Army Sgt. Ross Batchelder, a military policeman with the 591st Military Police Company based at Fort Bliss, Texas. “It’s the most realistic training I’ve ever received.”
Vibrant Response 11.1 integrates various types of units, including medical, military police, engineers, aviation and chemical units from all over the U.S. including Reserve and National Guard units.
“We have experience dealing with natural disasters, but we haven’t done training on this scale before,” said Baton Rouge, La. native Army Spc. Timothy Brandon with the 77th Engineer Company (active) stationed at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.
In a real-world disaster such as this, one of the many obstacles faced by first responders is how to get to the victims. Highways and roads can be completely jammed by destroyed vehicles or collapsed buildings, bridges and over-passes may be destroyed. It is the job of the engineers to clear the way and allow the lifesaving mission to continue.
“This tests our ability to not only react to an engineer scenario, but a civil support scenario too,” said Army Capt. Brent Hamilton, from Coon Rapids, Minn., commander of the 77th Engineer Co.
From the first news of the blast, to the moment the affected communities are back on their feet, CCMRF designated units will implement and evaluate the processes and standard operating procedures they will use to ensure they are ready to handle a real-world crisis.
“We are that rapid extraction force, the first people to go out the door to help turn the tide and save lives,” said Marine Maj. Mike Johnson of Allentown, Pa., the Mission and Operations Commander of the Chemical and Biological Incident Response Force (CBIRF) from Indian Head, Md.
“Every 60 days, these Marines go through a certification exercise that is signed off by the commanding officer of CBIRF to make sure they are ready to go downrange,” Johnson said.
“This training is setting us up for success. If the ‘real deal’ ever happens because you never know what situations you’re going to face,” said Marine Lance Cpl. Cordero Fruster, a member of the CBIRF team.
Panicking and screaming victims, collapsed buildings, smoke and rubble are only a few of the many challenges servicemembers may face in a real disaster.
JTF-CS coordinates the incident response based on mission assignments given to them by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the lead federal agency for response and recovery in support of the state. These mission assignments are created based on the specific needs of the state and are only given after the governor has made a formal request for assistance to the President of the United States.
With all the resources of the federal government brought to bear, the DoD plays a supporting role, as the state and local agencies lead the relief and recovery efforts.
Exercise Vibrant Response 11.1 is designed to provide a realistic training environment for all assigned CCMRF personnel to focus on key internal processes and procedures in preparation for conducting CBRNE consequence management operations.
“We are learning how we can change the way we operate by doing exercises like this,” said Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class Travis Haley, a team leader with CBIRF.
Disaster response and CBRNE consequence management is a team effort. JTF-CS, along with many other federal, state and local agencies, works as part of a unified response to help restore those areas affected by a catastrophic incident.
“After observing my Soldiers perform their tasks in the exercise, I am confident in their abilities to perform the tasks in live missions,” said Army 1st Lt. Paul Brodzick, a platoon leader with the 563rd Military Police Company out of Fort Drum, NY.
The DoD has unique expertise making it well qualified to fulfill important life and property-saving missions when disasters occur.
For more information, visit these websites:
U.S. Army North: www.arnorth.army.mil
Joint Task Force Civil Support: www.jtfcs.northcom.mil
Muscatatuck Urban Training Center: www.mutc.in.ng.mil
| Date Taken: | 03.11.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 04.02.2011 13:44 |
| Story ID: | 68164 |
| Location: | CAMP ATTERBURY, IN, US |
| Web Views: | 162 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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