152nd Airlift Wing hosts CAMR Class

Photo By Suzanne Connell | Nevada Air National Guard Emergency Management personnel suit up for response during the full-scale exercise on Friday, Sept. 22 at the conclusion of the National Guard Bureau sponsored CAMR Training.  

RENO, NV, UNITED STATES

09.19.2016

Story by Master Sgt. Paula Macomber 

152nd Airlift Wing

RENO—During the week of Sept. 19-22, the 152nd Airlift Wing hosted a team of five individuals from a private company, Federal Resources, (paid for by the National Guard Bureau’s bioenvironmental section) to teach the Counter CBRN All Hazard Management Response (CAMR) Course to some key players on the base. Emergency Operations Center members, Unit Control Center members, Firefighters, Security Forces, Bioenvironmental, and Emergency Management all participated. The course was intended to streamline the base’s emergency response processes.
The class began Monday, September 19th with air monitoring instruction aimed at the Bioenvironmental and Emergency management personnel. The rest of the key players attended the Tuesday through Friday section. The course concluded with a full-scale exercise.
Each morning, instructors provided a variety of information, and each afternoon participants conducted a tabletop exercise. The exercises enabled base members to communicate in the same room with each other. It also exposed the capabilities and responsibilities of each entity on base. This enabled crosstalk amongst the various units and helped them learn about the various capabilities available on base.
“This base had the highest attendance of a cross section of the base populous that we have seen at any guard base,” said Curt Thompson, CBRN Project Manager for Federal Resources.
The dedication of everyone involved enabled the full-scale exercise to be over much quicker than normal. The 152nd was able to get through the full-scale exercise on Friday more efficiently than any base to date—showcasing the expertise amongst the team players of the entire 152nd Airlift Wing. This unit was the first to use the National Guard Bureau funded, Common Operating Picture, (WebCobra) and that also was a huge success.”
The Base Emergency Manager, Master Sgt. Tim Hill was working with Curt for months leading up to the course, “Honestly, I didn’t know how many of our members would show up to the class, I was pretty impressed when I saw that we had members from every section in the EOC in the class. I would say that this training was more valuable than any training on emergency management that I could have provided to the base,” Hill said.
The Wing Director of Inspections, Capt. Eric Christensen said, “It is not very often that we get the privilege of having an outside agency come and provide low threat realistic training and exercises to enhance our wing’s ability to respond to disasters. Curt and his CAMR team did a great job! The exercises they presented, both tabletop and hands-on, got people thinking and asking lot of “what if” questions. This aided in identifying areas that our unit needs to work on. We have quality people in our unit that are eager to get things done, but some units may not have certain resources in order to respond to a certain event. This class brought these key first responders together and helped them realize additional resources our unit has which can assist them in their critical duties. Very beneficial experience for all those that attended.”
Overall, the training team enabled members of the 152nd realize the shortcomings and start working toward a master capabilities listing and better communication among all members who would be involved in any sort of exercise or real world event.

• Date Taken: 09.19.2016
• Date Posted: 10.26.2016 13:49
• Story ID: 212977
• Location: RENO, NV, US