FORT EUSTIS, Va. – Joint Task Force Civil Support ended Exercise Vibrant Response 15 (VR15), a joint exercise at Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center, Ind., May 3-8, 2015.
Vibrant Response is an annual training exercise conducted by the U.S. Northern Command and led by U.S. Army North, testing the capabilities of JTF-CS and other DOD unit’s ability to respond on short notice to a natural or man-made disaster. The exercise tested 119 different units working together to save lives, mitigate suffering, and restore a city to normality after a simulated catastrophic incident.
“Fifty percent of our people are from outside agencies, and they integrate at the time of execution,” said Col. Michael Houston, JTF-CS joint operations director. “It’s difficult early on to get synergy, but early in the exercise everyone was fully integrated and ready to operate. I think that the exercise was a huge success.”
This year’s notional scenario involved a catastrophic event in a fictional metropolitan city, by terrorists. The scenario put JTF-CS’s chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear response force to the test.
“Everyone approached it with the same amount of enthusiasm and professionalism that they would in a real scenario,” said Navy Command Master Chief Jeffrey A. Covington, command senior enlisted leader. “Hopefully, we never have to do this, but in case this were to happen we have the right people out there.”
All integrated units, approximately 610 personnel, performed around the clock operations to ensure mission success.
“I think it went very well,” said Covington. “It was good seeing our partners out there, being able to have the face-to-face interactions with them and relation when we are addressing this scenario that was an extremely bad day for America.”
Joint Task Force Civil Support anticipates, plans, and prepares for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Defense Support of Civil Authorities (CBRN-DSCA) response operations. When directed, JTF-CS deploys within 24 hours of notification to command and control DOD forces in support of civil authority response operations in order to save lives, prevent further injury, and provide temporary critical support to enable community recovery.
| Date Taken: |
05.12.2015 |
| Date Posted: |
05.12.2015 10:50 |
| Story ID: |
163021 |
| Location: |
FORT EUSTIS, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: |
140 |
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