Operation Arctic Eagle 2016 - Decontamination

Photo By Staff Sgt. Kevin Schulze | U.S. Army Soldiers with the Indiana National Guard assigned to the 19th CBRNE Enhanced Response Force Package’s Decontamination unit unload equipment for the 19th CERFP’s joint force cold weather exercise Arctic Eagle in Grayling, Michigan, April 7, 2016. (Air National Guard photo by Airman 1st Class Kevin D. Schulze)  

GRAYLING, MI, UNITED STATES

04.07.2016

Story by Airman 1st Class Kevin Schulze 

181st Intelligence Wing

HULMAN FIELD AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, Ind. (April 7, 2016) – Indiana National Guard soldiers with the 19th CBRNE Enhanced Response Force Package’s Decontamination unit trained civilian decontamination units and practiced their decontamination process during the cold weather exercise Operation Arctic Eagle at the Combined Armed Forces Training Facility near Camp Grayling, Michigan, April 7, 2016.
The 19th CERFP has several specialized units, one of which is the decontamination unit.
“CERFP is an Air Force and Army joint organization that helps to provide local first responders with essential assets in a time of crisis,” said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Gregory D. Motz, 19th CERFP commander. “It could be a natural disaster, a terrorist attack, a chemical spill and what we do is we go into the contaminated area and we recover live people or deceased people and we decontaminate them and provide them basic medical care so that they can move to a civilian hospital to receive further treatment.”
The decontamination unit’s priority is to ensure anyone from the contaminated disaster site does not bring contamination with them.
“[We provide] mass decontamination of causalities so they can get to medical,” said U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class John Walker, noncommissioned officer in charge of the 19th CERFP decontamination unit.
As part of the training exercise, the decontamination unit was provided the opportunity to inform their civilian counterparts of their capabilities and processes.
“We trained with the ER department’s HAZMAT response team. They were all brand new volunteer workers, so none of them were really trained,” said Walker. “We went through our decontamination process with their unit to boost their training experience.”
With new training under their belt and new experiences to work from, the 19th CERFP decontamination unit stands ready to help the community at any moment.

• Date Taken: 04.07.2016
• Date Posted: 04.10.2016 15:51
• Story ID: 194953
• Location: GRAYLING, MI, US