Specialized military medical unit shines at Korean exercises

Photo By Lt. Col. Carol McClelland | Audubon, N.J., native Sgt. Daniel Nichols, NCOIC, 9th AML, dons protective attire in the vestibule changing area before transitioning into a sterile lab environment Feb. 27 during exercise Key Resolve at Camp Walker, Daegu, South Korea.  

DAEGU, SOUTH KOREA

04.04.2012

Courtesy Story

20th CBRNE Command

DAEGU, South Korea – The 9th Area Medical Laboratory participated in two Republic of Korea-U.S. combined exercises here Feb. 27 through March 16 that showcased the unit’s abilities to collect, analyze, interpret and communicate biological and chemical hazards on the battlefield. The 9th AML from Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., played critical roles in Key Resolve and Foal Eagle, supporting both the Force Health Protection and Weapons of Mass Destruction elimination missions for U.S. Forces Korea during back-to-back exercises here.

“The AML’s mission is to deploy world-wide to perform surveillance, confirmatory analytical laboratory testing and health hazard assessments of chemical, biological and radiological threats in support of force health protection and WMD missions,” said Col. Rachel Armstrong, 9th AML commander. “I am extremely proud of the way the unit has, in such short order, made itself a critical part of the intelligence preparation of the battlefield, communicating the health hazards and advising risk management interventions needed to mitigate these hazards to the 20th Support Command commander.”

Maj. Kevin Doherty, Chemical Threat Assessment officer in charge, was also very impressed with the performance of his soldiers.

“The chemical threat assessment section has been a top performer in this exercise, processing over 30 simulated chemical warfare agent samples including identifying G- and V-series nerve agents and blister agents with a turnaround time of under six hours,” he said. Doherty explained some of the challenges of identifying WMDs in a field environment. “This section uses state-of-the-art equipment to identify the chemical composition of the samples, including gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy, in an austere field environment.

The soldiers must be very precise in the setup and operation of this equipment in the field, or else the equipment will break; or worse, the results will not be correct, placing Soldiers in the field at risk.”

The WMD identification was not the section’s only mission, according to Doherty.

“When WMDs are not present and are not an operational concern, the same equipment can be used to identify environmental samples, such as toxic industrial chemicals, in support of the Command’s Force Health Protection mission,” Doherty said. He noted that although processing environmental samples is a secondary priority to the WMD mission, “In the modern battlefield most of the work done by the chemical threat section is in support of the Force Health Protection rather than the WMD mission.”

During this exercise, the section analyzed and identified more than 35 environmental samples, with a turnaround time of under 24 hours. They test mainly water and soil and have been able to identify toxic industrial chemicals such as toluene and benzene.
Capt. Bjorn Listerud, Occupational and Environmental Health Threat section OIC said his section primarily supported the unit’s Force Health Protection mission.

“Our section supports Force Health Protection by conducting theater-level occupational and environmental health threat assessments including analysis of air, water, soil, entomological, and radiological hazards,” he said. “The basic principles of conducting health threat assessments are the same in any operation, although the focus might be on radiation during one mission, food and water in the next, and maybe environmental chemical hazards after that.”

The Force Health Protection mission of the AML was highlighted in the 9th AML’s 2011 deployment to Japan as part of Operation Tomodachi, particularly the evaluation, mitigation, and communication of radiological hazards. Sgt. Ryan Wickenden, a health physics technician, was one of the key members of the AML’s response to Tomodachi, where he supported U.S. Forces Japan and the U.S. Public Health Command Region-Pacific for more than three months.

Wickenden said his experiences in Japan helped with this exercise.

“My experience during Operation Tomodachi really helped me understand in more detail how our assessments translate into real-world interventions. The one that sticks most in my mind is from when we conducted food and water vulnerability assessments, and this assessment was used to demonstrate to commanders that the food and water was safe to eat and drink. This showed me how important our work is and how it can affect the daily lives of our soldiers and their families,” Wickenden said.

Maj. Kurt Schaecher, Biological Threat Assessment OIC, said his section, like the chemical threat assessment section, supports both WMD and the Force Health Protection missions. Also like the Chemical section, his section prioritizes WMD identification first.

“During this exercise we have tested simulated samples for Biological Agents such as anthrax, tularemia, and plague in an austere field environment, Schaecher said. “We have demonstrated and validated our ability to accurately identify biological threats, running over 900 assays so far in support of this mission in about two weeks’ time.”

Although the identification of biological warfare agents is his section’s top priority, Schaecher readily acknowledges that the Force Health Protection mission requires the most support in the modern battlefield.

“The identification of endemic diseases for Force Health Protection is also an important mission for us,” he said. “In particular, our section is an integral part of food and water safety, looking for bacteria which cause diarrheal disease, which is a major cause of illness on the modern battlefield.” He said his section has state-of-the-art equipment that can identify diarrhea-causing bacteria, such as E. coli, Shigella, Salmonella, and V. cholera.

Maj. Bryan Gnade, a PhD microbiologist at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research with the bacterial diseases branch, augmented the Biological Threat Assessment section during the exercises as a Professional Filler System augmentee. The additional capability Gnade brought allowed the section the capacity for 24-hour operations in support of battlefield operations.

“It is impressive to see how the 20th CBRNE and the 9th AML are integrating operations not only within the warfighters’ exercises, but also with many of our South Korean military colleagues,” said Gnade. “This has been a great experience for me to see the field use of microbiology capabilities and how it can impact the Soldier on the battlefield.”

• Date Taken: 04.04.2012
• Date Posted: 04.04.2012 17:18
• Story ID: 86251
• Location: DAEGU, KR