Courtesy Photo | Marine Chemical, Biological Incident Response Force unit is decontaminating troops...... read more read more
Cpl. Drew M. Wilkinson
11th Public Affairs Detachment
CAMP ATTERBURY, Ind. -- When a casualty extraction request comes in, the Marine Chemical, Biological Incident Response Force swings into action. Hanging from ropes and charging into buildings at full speed, saving lives, preventing injury, and providing temporary critical life support is their priority.
As part of the field training exercise portion of Ardent Sentry/Northern Edge 2007, CBIRF executed a high-angle extraction, one of many training scenarios, from a hospital at the Muscatatuck Urban Training Center.
"It's not anything like I thought it would be. I thought we were going to get here and clear the whole place," said with some disappointment, Cpl. Joshua Benner, a member of the CBIRF identification protection team.
Though it is not what they expected, the Marines arrive on scene and they take off at full speed and begin the extraction mission. They move quickly, but they maintain a high level of caution. Before entering, two teams maneuver around the building monitoring the levels of radiation at every window they pass and marking them according to the readings they get.
The reconnaissance team enters the building first doing a fast-paced preliminary search of the building. They are scouting the building to get a good idea of the layout as well as searching for casualties.
The identification protection team enters the building next. They do a more in-depth search of the building. "We mark the rooms that have high levels of contaminants with red chem. lights, and the rooms that are clear to enter with green chem. lights," said Lance Cpl. Joseph Inman, a member of the CBIRF identification team.
"As we are moving through the building and getting our readings we call back to the hot zone coordinator. He then radios that downrange and identifies the substance and tells us if it is dangerous," said Inman.
"Every one of the CBIRF Marines is a combat life saver. Most of them are also emergency medical technician trained," said Col. Michael Campbell, the CBIRF commander.
"I would say this is the best overall Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and High-yield Explosives team in the world. There are many great CBRNE units that are
specialized, but we are able to deploy all of the components necessary within hours and all under one commander," said Sgt. Maj. Thomas Murphy, sergeant major for the CBIRF.
The Marine CBIRF is currently tasked as part of the CBRNE Consequence Management Response Force, which falls under Joint Task Force Civil Support of the Department of Defense, U.S. Northern Command's homeland defense mission.
The CBIRF is constantly going through effective and intense training to insure their forces are interoperable and ready for deployment at any time for missions like AS/NE 2007.
"Working with the CBIRF has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my lifetime," said Campbell. "Are on duty forces are ready to deploy within two hours at a moments notice," he added. In today's world properly trained, combat-ready forces are essential.
| Date Taken: | 05.15.2007 |
| Date Posted: | 05.15.2007 13:14 |
| Story ID: | 10395 |
| Location: | CAMP ATTERBURY, INDIANA, US |
| Web Views: | 268 |
| Downloads: | 234 |
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