Photo By Sgt. Bethany McMeans | Sgt. 1st Class Lyndon Peters, the noncommissioned officer in charge of the brigade...... read more read more
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CAMP ATTERBURY, Ind. – Amidst the hustle and bustle of the Vibrant Response 13 exercise, the soldiers that form the brigade surgeon cell are training to use their skills in case a real disaster strikes.
This is the first time the brigade surgeon has an actual cell instead of being a one-man adviser, said Sgt. 1st Class Lyndon Peters, the Vibrant Response 13 noncommissioned officer in charge of the brigade surgeon cell, 161st Multi-Medical Battalion of the Alabama Army National Guard.
“This is the first time the cell has been implemented in the exercise,” said Spc. Kevin Couch, a combat medic for the 31st Chemical Brigade of the Alabama Army National Guard. “We are getting a handle on everything by learning from those individuals who has been here before and building upon it to make our job more efficient and effective.”
The brigade surgeon cell is responsible for collecting and disseminating information as well as giving the commander of the exercise an accurate report of what is happening on the medical side, said Lt. Col. Stephen Roberts, brigade surgeon, HHD 31st CBRN BDE.
“This is an excellent opportunity to sharpen skills administratively,” said Couch. “By doing so, we can improve upon our ability to provide efficient, quality care to both the military and civilians involved.”
“Training like this will help the military be more prepared to assist should something happen,” said Peters. “A good thing about this being the National Guard is that we are more civilian friendly, because we are civilians as well, which makes for an easier and better equipped force to deal with the situation.”
The Vibrant Response 13 exercise prepares the military’s specialized response forces to assist civilian authorities in saving lives and relieving suffering following a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear incident. The exercise consisted of more than 9,000 personnel that participate in field training and command post events. Members of the Alabama National Guard are part of the specialized federal response force called the Command and Control Response Element (C2CRE).
The soldiers of the brigade surgeon cell expressed excitement to be part of such a large part of history and learning by being part of such a large exercise. Everyone in the exercise is learning and relying on each other in order to have success.
“The most important thing is to keep a cool head and do our best,” said Couch. “I’m proud to be a part of this exercise and am looking forward to seeing how the next few days play out.”
The 31st Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Brigade, working as a headquarters for Task Force Guardian, is participating in Vibrant Response 13, a large-scale joint exercise. Exercise Vibrant Response is a training event for the national CBRN tiered response force. The exercise focuses on Department of Defense support of civil authorities in a consequence management role. Task Force Guardian is part of DoD’s scalable response capability to assist civilian responders in saving lives, relieving human suffering, and providing critical support to assist community recovery following a catastrophic CBRN incident.
| Date Taken: | 08.08.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 08.10.2012 16:37 |
| Story ID: | 93006 |
| Location: | CAMP ATTERBURY, IN, US |
| Web Views: | 575 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Brigade surgeon cell adds to capabilities of the C2CRE, by SGT Bethany McMeans, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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