Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Chlosta | PODGORICA, Montenegro- NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller gives her...... read more read more
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PODGORICA, Montenegro –This tiny Balkan nation of about 620,000 people hosted the annual NATO European-Atlantic Disaster Coordination Center Consequence Management Field Exercise, in a big way.
"CRNA GORA 2016” included 33 U.S. Army Reserve Soldiers and one civilian from the 7th Mission Support Command, with a total of 680 participants from 32 countries, Oct. 31 – Nov. 3, 2016.
7th MSC Soldiers from the Medical Support Unit-Europe, the 773rd Civil Support Team, the 361st Civil Affairs Brigade, the 209th and 2500th Digital Liaison Detachments and the Headquarters and Headquarters Company conducted foreign consequence management, operations in response to a simulated flooding event at sites in and around the capital city of Podgorica.
The exercise, “is designed to bring together many, many nations to practice civil emergency type activities,” said Dr. John Manza, NATO’s Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Operations.
There were eight simulated disaster response locations, including the Bogami bridge over the river Zeta and the Lazine community’s former schoolhouse, which are both north of the capital, and the Plavnica Eco-Resort and Lake Skadar, which are south of the city.
According to Manza, the disaster response sites were chosen to test the various teams on search and rescue, hazardous material response and water rescue.
“It’s an opportunity for different countries to come together and participate in a Consequence Management Field Exercise,” said U.S. Army Col. Tyra Harding, 7th MSC exercise officer in charge.
Flooding was chosen as a training scenario because Montenegro has had to react to an uptick of extreme weather, torrential rain and increased flooding in the Balkans region over the past several years.
This region, is very mountainous and it’s prone to flooding, Manza said.
“So, for Montenegro, in particular, this is a very apt scenario,” he added.
Day 1 — Opening ceremony, classroom and hands on training
The opening ceremony was held Oct. 31, in front of a massive formation, as all the participating teams displayed their national flags and listened to welcoming remarks.
After the opening ceremony, the Deputy Prime Minister of Montenegro Dusko Markovic walked around the base of operations to visit one-on-one with the teams and thank them for their participation.
“This is what it’s all about,” Manza said after the ceremony. “It’s about building capacity amongst the partners, the allies to get them used to working with each other, to gain confidence in each other and their capabilities and to bring the whole NATO team more closely together.”
After the ceremony, several planning meetings were held by the EADRCC exercise staff and assessors as well as the various teams conducting classroom and hands on familiarization training at base camp on the outskirts of Podgorica.
The exercise has a Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear identification element and medical support training as well, Harding said.
“The Medical Support Unit-Europe is here coordinating with other countries and seeing how we can integrate and supplement and work together to provide medical support in the case of a natural disaster,” said U.S. Army Capt. Allison Boss, a civilian nurse that specializes in behavioral health and a member of the MSU-E, “if a country’s overwhelmed with some form of catastrophic event and how we can integrate and cooperate.
“So today during training we sat down with the teams from Romania and the former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia to see what their capabilities are, what our capabilities are and how we can merge those to provide the best support to Montenegro during this exercise,” she added.
Day 2 — Afternoon events turn into dusk, then night operations
The second day of “CRNA GORA 2016” kicked off in the afternoon, Nov. 1. Multiple disaster sites called for assistance in response to the flooding scenario injects from the EADRCC exercise staff.
The Rogami bridge site, next to the river Zeta, had a simulated ambulance crash with the vehicle tilted on its side along a steep river bank.
The Montenegro Onsite Commander Darko Zizzic, a Montenegro rescue 3 level commander, called for medical responders, search and rescue, a boat with divers and a hazardous material identification unit.
The 7th MSC sent three MSU-E Soldiers to assist the search and rescue team from Azerbaijan, the Israeli ZAKA International Rescue Unit and the members of the Israel fire department search and rescue team.
Around the same time, the 773rd CST was requested by a different Montenegro onsite commander to go to the former schoolhouse in Lazine to check on a suspected chemical factory or ‘meth lab,’ with the Armenian CBRN team.
“The communication between us and them was good,” said U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Yulolanda Carey, survey team chief, 773rd CST, said. “We could clearly understand each other. You get to incorporate some of what they know with what we know. It’s good team building.”
The combined Armenian and U.S. teams conducted perimeter monitoring and site characterization at the dilapidated schoolhouse.
“It was interesting to see their [Armenian CBRN team] process as compared to ours,” said U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Patrick McNeely, survey team member, 773rd CST.
Meanwhile, back at the Rogami Bridge, the 7th MSC medics were part of a combined meeting of the Israel, Azerbaijan and U.S. teams to decide their rescue and triage strategy.
“When the mission was clear, we divided the team for missions,” said Yosef Dekalo, commander of the Israel fire department search and rescue team. “We were very disciplined in accomplishing the mission.”
As the sun set and the temperature dropped, Zizzic then informed the teams that the bridge was unusable for the training scenario due to the floods washing it out.
There was also possible unexploded ordnance, which had been exposed by the flooding and there were also blue barrels with suspected hazardous materials that had been pulled downriver by the strong flood waters, he told the combined teams.
Across the river, injured role players, played by local high school students, were strewn about the vehicle accident and flooding site. Each had realistic-looking injuries through the use of moulage makeup techniques.
The students took their roles seriously. They shouted in pain and yelled for help across the river, which ramped up the pressure, while the teams worked together to formulate a safe rescue plan.
“Car accidents, we’re used to since we have a lot of tourists, ” Zizzic said.
Adapting to the onsite commander’s instructions, a final search and rescue plan was formulated and the 7th MSC medics and Azerbaijan SAR team crossed the river on an Israeli water rescue Zodiac boat.
Dekalo said the U.S. and Israel have the same multi-casualty incident protocols and it was a team effort.
“We have same protocols with the American medical team,” Dekalo said. “The main tactic was to move the boats to move the most urgent wounded. We also bring the equipment to bring the injured with ropes and bring them down. It was very good joint effort to accomplish the medical mission. The most important thing is we had a combined rescue.”
Once they were on the opposite side of the river, the MSU-E medical team partnered with the Azerbaijan SAR members to traverse a severe river embankment jutted with sharp rocks, narrow paths, the overturned ambulance and sharp 25-foot drop-offs, all in the dark.
The MSU-E Soldiers triaged simulated injuries — including a broken leg on the perilous cliffs — while also working with the Azerbaijan SAR team to find a way to evacuate the injured patients down the embankment to the edge of the river.
“We work good with the U.S. medical Soldiers,” said Abbasov Ibrahim, an Azerbaijan Army SAR member. “We shared our equipment and they shared their equipment with us during the search and rescue mission. I enjoyed working with them as a team. I learned some things from them.”
Once patients reached the shore, they were then transported by the Israeli SAR team’s Zodiac boats to the triage and assessment area on the opposite river bank for further treatment with waiting ambulances.
“Floods happen often here, that is why it is crucial training,” Zizzic said.
Day 3-CBRN day ops
The next day, Nov. 2, the 773rd CST team, the Armenian CBRN unit and the Spanish Emergency Military Unit team were requested to conduct a site survey at the Lazine site, a suspected chemical factory or ‘meth’ lab, while a new MSU-E team went back to the Rogami Bridge Zeta river site to conduct medical evaluations.
At Lazine, the Montenegro onsite commander held several combined meetings with all three teams before the combined survey team entered the dilapidated schoolhouse that recently had sheep living inside.
The 773rd CST partnered with the Armenian CBRN team for the site survey and the Spanish UME members conducted decontamination.
In addition, the EADRCC and Defense Threat Reduction Agency had on site assessors to monitor the teams and give them post mission feedback.
“It was very nice to work with the U.S. Army team,” said Senior 1st Lt. Tigran Gevorgyan, Ministry of Emergency Situation of Republic of Armenia, CBRN Division. “The U.S. team members are very qualified. We understand each other. It is very easy for us to cooperate with U.S. team compared to other teams. We all speak English and a lot of CBRN information is written in English.”
The 773rd CST’s Analytical Laboratory System truck was onsite and their chain of custody procedure was also tested.
The Armenian team brought the suspected chemical sample they had collected in the schoolhouse to the 773rd CST.
The sample was analyzed and identified by U.S. Army Capt. Latoya Toler and U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Jarrod Davis in the ALS vehicle.
“They were very deliberate during our joint survey team assessment of the site,” Gevorgyan said. “I like the information collecting process.”
Day 4-Demonstration day, closing ceremony; welcome to NATO
The concluding activities were held at the Plavnica Eco-Resort, about 10 kilometers south of Podgorica, Nov. 3.
“I came this morning to see the final day of this important exercise that is looking mostly at issues to do with water rescue,” said NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller, during her post ceremony press conference, “and I was indeed able to see how the seventeen teams from all across the region, and from as far away as the United States, have been working together to simulate rescuing victims of floods.”
There were a number of events including: static displays, a demonstration of CBRN capabilities, a water rescue by the Spanish UME, the closing ceremony, a press conference and a reception.
“And I think it is so important to show that NATO is not just about cooperative defense; it is also involved in dealing with natural disasters, helping countries to address terrible situations that arise,” Gottemoeller added.
Gottemoeller, who was accompanied by the President of Montenegro Filip Vujanovic during the final day, said that NATO will work together with countries such as Montenegro to be able to help with these natural disasters.
Montenegro is currently in the NATO accession process and is expected to become an official member in the spring of 2017, according to Gottemoeller.
“It’s my very first trip as the new Deputy Secretary General of NATO,” Gottemoeller said. “And it’s my very first opportunity to be in Montenegro as well.
“I have learned a lot, and I thank Montenegro for the terrific work that your people did, your teams did, to organize this important exercise,” she said.
| Date Taken: | 11.09.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 11.09.2016 12:39 |
| Story ID: | 214246 |
| Location: | PODGORICA, ME |
| Web Views: | 239 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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