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    43rd Civil Support Team trains to respond to real world incidents

    43rd Civil Support Team Training

    Photo By Staff Sgt. Kevin Pickering | Soldiers with the South Carolina National Guard 43rd Civil Support Team take chemical...... read more read more

    MYRTLE BEACH, SC, UNITED STATES

    03.10.2017

    Story by Staff Sgt. Kevin Pickering 

    South Carolina National Guard

    MYRTLE BEACH, SOUTH CAROLINA - Soldiers with the South Carolina National Guard 43rd Civil Support Team conducted training in an abandoned mall and office building as part of a U.S. Army North validation training exercise, March 7-9, 2017.

    As part of the multi-day training, the unit took chemical and radiological readings of automobiles parked at the entrance to the mall and parking lot outside the office building. The Soldiers then entered the abandoned mall, checking each former store and the food court for hazardous material and potentially dangerous devices.

    The Soldiers also entered the abandoned office building and took samples from a mock lab that had been set up by the evaluators. During this exercise, the evaluators staged a simulated injury to one of the team members requiring a medical recovery, decontamination, and injury evaluation.

    As part of these training exercises, the unit deploys to incident locations with various equipment that provides communication, lab analysis, chemical decontamination, and medical attention on-site.

    “We are not on scene to be in-charge. We are there to assess, analyze, advise and assist,” said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Doug Bowling, 43rd CST commander. “We provide the incident commander a presumptive analysis of what has been found. This gives us a 90 percent confirmation on materials that have been analyzed. We then send samples to a gold standard lab that confirms whether the material is hazardous.”

    The 43rd CST is highly trained and conducts a collective exercise on these skill sets monthly, as well as individual task training every week. This particular event was a practice for collective lanes training. Upon request, U.S. Army North assists the individual state units with an annual training event that replicates the recertification exercise required every 18 months.

    Bowling said, “I requested this training because it’s like taking a practice exam and then getting the answers. It helps our preparedness when we are recertified by the secretary of defense.”

    James Barkley, a department of the army civilian and the southeast division chief with Army North, said, “We can provide training collectively or for individual lanes if the unit commander believes they have an area that needs additional attention.”

    The 43rd CST is a South Carolina National Guard unit whose members are fulltime National Guard members. Each state in the United States has a similar unit. The unit’s role is to respond to a location and assist the incident commander, whether that is a mayor, police chief, fire chief, or other lead agency by providing the situational analysis needed for decision making and timely response.

    The unit also conducts other training and real-world exercises with a variety of civilian, federal and state organizations throughout the year. They respond to many calls and though often times the material analyzed turns out to be non-hazardous, they still take it seriously.

    “We always treat every incident as important,” said Bowling.

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 03.10.2017
    Date Posted: 03.13.2017 06:25
    Story ID: 226613
    Location: MYRTLE BEACH, SC, US

    Web Views: 67
    Downloads: 2

    PUBLIC DOMAIN