Photo By Senior Airman Sam Goodman | U.S. Army Master Sgt. Dale Lee, Joint Task Force- 51, U.S. Army North, Fort Sam...... read more read more
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By Sgt. 1st Class Christopher DeHart
Task Force 51 and U.S. Army North Public Affairs
FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas — While most members of the military are lauded as defenders of freedom and protectors of the nation, one unit with U.S. Army North takes the title literally as one of the first responders to catastrophic incidents – both natural and man-made – within North America.
U.S. Army North’s Task Force 51, based at Fort Sam Houston, will serve as an integral part of Vibrant Response 13, the largest Department of Defense exercise of this type to date.
VR13 is one of a series of three scenarios designed to challenge and train contingency response forces at all levels – local, state and federal. The other two scenarios, Ardent Sentry and Vigilant Shield, enact natural disaster and invasion on U.S. soil respectively as part of their training structures.
“Keeping ourselves ready, trained and equipped is key,” said Sgt. Maj. Jonathan Lutgens, operations sergeant major for TF51. “A lot of resources and planning goes into this type of operation so we have to make sure we get the right equipment and personnel where they are needed in order to support those federal agencies on the ground.”
Lutgens is one of the newer members of the task force and has called Harker Heights, Texas, home for the past 6 years. While this is a different type of mission than he’s had in his 22 years plus of time in service, he said it is just as important, if not more so, when compared to the Army’s more traditional roles abroad.
Vibrant Response 13 is a national-level field training exercise. TF51 leads the command post exercise portion for the Department of Defense’s Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear response enterprise.
Led by U.S. Army North, also based at Fort Sam Houston, the training event is intended to exercise the ability to deploy, employ and sustain specialized military response forces upon the request of civilian authorities to save lives and relieve human suffering following a catastrophic CBRN incident.
The exercise is taking place at various locations in Indiana, including the Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center and the Muscatatuck Urban Training Complex, as well as at Fort Knox, Ky. The exercise features realistic venues, fire and smoke effects, mannequins and civilian role-players to simulate a demanding disaster environment.
“The average guy on the street doesn’t know what goes into this type of thing,” Lutgens said. “Knowing that you provide that service to them, and to our own families, it feels good to be able to do that.”
Units from more than 40 locations throughout the United States will be participating, including U.S. Army North and its Task Force 51, Fort Sam Houston, Texas; Joint Task Force – Civil Support, Fort Eustis, Va.; along with the 31st Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Brigade, Alabama National Guard, Northport, Ala.
“We operate as a contingency so we wait for the situation to develop,” said Lt. Col. Blake Burslie, operations officer for TF51, and native of McIntosh, Minn. “Should that happen, then we will receive orders from Army North to execute our mission.”
Overall, the mission for TF51 is to provide mission command of the assigned units when called upon to save lives and alleviate suffering. There is little difference in their operation whether training, such as for this command post exercise under VR13, or their real-world mission, Burslie emphasized.
VR13, and each of the smaller exercises that occur inside its umbrella, are considered a graduated response. U.S. Northern Command, U.S. Army North and Joint Task Force – Civil Support currently have the mission. However, TF51 has elevated its readiness level so it can respond as needed, Burslie said, whether for this event or for anything that could occur.
Vibrant Response includes units from all levels of government and agencies across a broad spectrum, all working together to become better team players should the time come for them to act in a major emergency.
Within TF51, the vital mission is upheld even at the individual soldier level.
“I’m looking forward to where this is going to,” said Staff Sgt. Martin Cantu, a battle planner with the current operations section of TF51. “This is the biggest exercise of the year, and I want to see how much we have progressed from last year. Now that I am more involved going in, I feel like we are on the right path.”
Cantu, a native of San Antonio, handles a large amount of information that gets pushed to the task force from all directions – headquarters, subordinate units and partner agencies. He said the team made improvements in disseminating the critical information that will allow operations to go much smoother. And while it is not his first go-round at an exercise like VR13, he said it is much different than what he was used to before coming to the task force.
“This has been a good experience,” he said. “It is always good to experience something new.” Cantu, like Lutgens, comes from an infantry background and has seen four deployments to Iraq in his career.
Yet, like many on the TF51 team, he said he is glad to be doing something for those at home.
“It feels a lot better being here on the home front,” he said. “I feel like I am doing something good here to actually be helping the American people.”
The Department of Defense has long had the mission of supporting civilian agencies in responding to disasters. The Department of Homeland Security has developed a series of national planning scenarios for a variety of hazards that provide a baseline of assumptions to be used by agencies at all levels to develop and assess their readiness and response plans. The Vibrant Response scenario is based on one of those national planning scenarios.
“Having deployed to Iraq, this is a different mission – serving the American people directly,” Burslie said. “Knowing that [they] are counting on us to assist them in their time of need provides great motivation to be ready.”
And, Burslie added, this is a sentiment shared by almost all within TF51.
“Task Force 51 looks forward to this training exercise,” he said. “It will make us better prepared in the event we are called upon to do this for real.”
| Date Taken: | 08.03.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 08.03.2012 11:48 |
| Story ID: | 92623 |
| Location: | FORT SAM HOUSTON, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 260 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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