CCE Performs at VR16

Photo By Sgt. Marcus Floyd | Spc. Jason Neal, member of the Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear and Explosives Coordination Element 3, ensures the Very Small Aperture Terminal dish connections are in place to enable his team to communicate during their Deployment Readiness Exercise as part of the Vibrant Response 16 exercise at Camp Atterbury, Indiana from April 29-May 7. (US Army photo by Sgt. Marcus Floyd, Joint Task Force Civil Support PAO Team)  

CAMP ATTERBURY, IN, UNITED STATES

05.07.2016

Story by Staff Sgt. Angel Martinez-Navedo 

20th CBRNE Command

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. – Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear and Explosives Coordination Element (CCE) 3, with some CCE 5 augmentees, from the 20th CBRNE Command completed their Deployment Readiness Exercise (DRE) during the Vibrant Response 16 exercise at Camp Atterbury, Indiana from April 29-May 7.
The team provided support to Joint Task Force-Civil Support (JTF-CS) during VR16.
“The 20th (CBRNE Command) as a whole has some incredible capabilities in terms of what we bring to the fight and how adaptable we are,” said Maj. Robert West, CCE 3 team chief. “I’ve done several of these exercises, and what I’ve found in every case is that not only we come as SMEs (subject matter experts) for CBRNE, but also as highly-qualified Soldiers. It gave new members of the CE (coordination element) the insight and the realistic pace of a real domestic terrorist attack of catastrophic levels,” he added.
West was not the only one with sense of pride and achievement after concluding the exercise. Lt. Col. Mike Ricciardi, CCE 5 team chief, had also a few words describing the training.
“It was an incredible week exercising not only our expertise in our respective MOS's (military occupational specialty) as a team, but also our ability to integrate into the Joint Task Force Headquarters in support of state and other governmental agencies,” said Ricciardi.
This annual command post exercise tests federal response capabilities to meet the expectations of the nation. It provides training to prepare CBRNE response units to integrate with civilian partners and respond to natural or manmade catastrophic CBRNE events.
During VR16 the CCE served as the CBRNE incident analysis cell within JTF-CS’s Protection Center supporting U.S. Northern Command, Army North, Department of Homeland Security, and Pennsylvania state agencies.
The team also trained on CBRNE analysis of Toxic Industrial Chemical (TIC) spills and radiological hazards following a simulated terrorist attack.
In addition, the team validated their recently fielded Secure Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPR)/Non-secure Internet Protocol Router (NIPR) Access Points (SNAP) ground satellite terminals and Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) satellite terminals.
This is important because the SNAP and VSAT support the team’s ability to execute CBRNE technical reach back to the 20th CBRNE Command and can provide a limited contingency support to any joint task force.
Also as part of the DRE, the CCE tested their ability-to-fuse expertise from across organic disciplines (CBRN, EOD, Intel and Communications), and the seamless integration into the Joint Task Force Headquarters providing defense support to civil authorities.
The CCE directly attributes their successful integration to prior engagements and combined training conducted on a quarterly basis with JTF-CS.

• Date Taken: 05.07.2016
• Date Posted: 05.10.2016 16:22
• Story ID: 197807
• Location: CAMP ATTERBURY, IN, US
• Hometown: ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, MD, US
• Hometown: CAMP ATTERBURY, IN, US