Vibrant Response Exercise rehearses for unthinkable

Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Katherine Dowd | Maj. Gen. Hoover, commanding general, 167th Theater Sustainment Command, Fort McClellan, Ala., is briefed by Capt. Brad Stark, staging yard officer-in-charge. Hoover visited his troops in Camp Atterbury as they conducted annual training as part of exercise Vibrant Response 13.  

CAMP ATTERBURY, IN, UNITED STATES

07.26.2012

Story by Sgt. Katherine Dowd 

167th Theater Sustainment Command

CAMP ATTERBURY, Ind. — Nearly 9,000 soldiers, Marines, airmen and Department of Defense civilians will descend on central Indiana, July 24-Aug 13, to exercise Department of Defense's ability to respond effectively to a catastrophic nuclear disaster in the homeland.

The 167th Theater Sustainment Command of Fort McClellan, Ala., will be an integral part of this exercise and scenario during Vibrant Response 13, the largest DoD exercise of this type to date.

“The 167th TSC’s mission is to support our down trace and sister units as well as train our soldiers on tactics, operations, strategic logistics and sustainment support during Vibrant Response 13,” said Col. Lee Ellis, officer-in-charge for the 167th TSC forward element’s early entry command post.

Vibrant Response 13 is a national-level field training exercise (or command post exercise) for the Department of Defense’s Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear response enterprise. Led by U.S. Army North based at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, 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 will take place at various locations in Indiana, including the Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center and 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.

Units from more than 40 locations throughout the United States will be participating, including U.S. Army North and Task Force 51, Fort Sam Houston, Texas; Joint Task Force – Civil Support, Fort Eustis, Va.; 31st Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Brigade, Alabama National Guard, Northport, Ala.

Federal military forces may be employed if requested by a state and approved by the federal government. These specialized response forces include the 5,200-person defense CBRN response force, which has the initial response capability to provide search and rescue, decontamination, medical, aviation, communications and logistical support.

Two smaller specialized federal military forces of 1,500 personnel each are designed to provide an initial response and accept additional forces to save and sustain lives. The event marks the first confirmation exercise for the third response force. The force consists of National Guard units that would be federalized if called upon for a catastrophic response.

The three federal military forces are part of DoD’s tiered CBRN response structure that provides the nation with a dedicated, trained, ready, scalable and tailorable response capability. The tiered response structure also includes state-based civil support teams and regionally based CBRN enhanced response force packages and homeland response forces. A number of these units will participate in the exercise, as will teams from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Technical Nuclear Forensics Task Force.

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.

“Vibrant Response 13 is going to provide new challenges and opportunities for the 167th TSC,” said Lt. Col. Tom Tyler, deputy officer-in-charge for the 167th TSC’s forward element. “We’re here to facilitate the validation exercise and training for our soldiers. This exercise allows our soldiers to establish operations to provide general support and limited support and sustainment when deploying units in different operations areas.”

Media advisory: Media who desire to do interviews with people during the exercise via DoD satellite availability should contact Sgt. Katherine Dowd, 167th Theater Sustainment Command Public Affairs Office, 205-427-8169, [e-mail] or Don Manuszewski, 210-482-9303, [e-mail].

• Date Taken: 07.26.2012
• Date Posted: 08.06.2012 16:34
• Story ID: 92733
• Location: CAMP ATTERBURY, IN, US
• Hometown: ANNISTON, AL, US
• Hometown: FORT MCCLELLAN, AL, US