Photo By Maj. Leslie Reed | Oregon National Guard Cpl. Jeffrey Mayes, a survey team member with the 102nd Civil...... read more read more
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Members of the Oregon National Guard’s 102nd Civil Support Team (CST) added another elite event to their ever-growing resume; supporting the 121st annual Boston Marathon on April 17, 2017.
“It’s a pretty high-profile mission, all of us here are happy to be a part of it,” said Oregon National Guard Staff Sgt. Jamel Mercado, a survey team chief with the 102nd CST.
Oregon National Guard Cpl. Jeffrey Mayes, a survey team member with the 102nd CST, said he was the first to volunteer for this mission, “I got the email and I was the first one to respond, ‘Let’s go to Boston!’ I’m super stoked and ready. Maybe one day I will run in the Boston Marathon.”
Last year, the 102nd CST supported the U.S. Olympic Trials (track and field) at the University of Oregon in Eugene, and the 2016 International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) World Indoor Championships (track and field) in Portland, Oregon. Many of the unit’s previous experiences were supporting stadium-style events, but the Boston Marathon was entirely different.
Oregon National Guard Maj. Adam Lulay, 102nd CST operations officer, said two factors set this particular mission in Boston apart from previous experiences.
“The number of people is something we aren’t accustomed to, along with the distance, 26.2 miles,” said Lulay.
Capt. Douglas Patterson, operations officer with the 1st CST, Massachusetts National Guard, agreed that the size of the event influences the mission.
“The last number I heard was 39,000 runners. It’s going to be a beautiful day, 60-degrees, sun, and one million spectators. And on top of that there’s going to be a baseball game, so it’s going to be jam-packed with people,” said Patterson. “If we’re not where we are supposed to be, we’re no good to the commonwealth.”
Every state and territory in the U.S. has a Civil Support Team, but the magnitude of the Boston Marathon called for a larger response.
“We can’t do it with just our 22 people, we rely on our outside agencies and we brought in more than 20 CSTs to help out,” said Lt. Col. Jeffrey Winn, commander of the 1st CST and Task Force CBRNE, Massachusetts National Guard.
The task force members said they were taking their jobs very seriously due to the events that occurred at the marathon four years ago. That history certainly raised the stakes as a reality of why they are there to provide support.
“It’s really a testament to what the Civil Support Team does and what the National Guard does in general,” said Massachusetts National Guard Lt. Col. Ryan Floyd, Joint Task Force Patriot commander, 79th Troop Command commander and director of security cooperation. “We are there to support one another. We are one team and it means a lot to everyone who had witnessed the attack, or any other attack in the United States. When we are in need, our Citizen-Soldiers come together.”
Oregon’s 102nd CST members were assigned as members of Joint Hazard Assessment Teams (JHAT) during the marathon. Both Mayes and Mercado were paired up with Army Explosive Ordnance technicians and first responders (either police or firefighters) to form teams of three. The teams then roamed around their respective sectors keeping both the general public safe and relaying pertinent information to the task force as necessary.
Floyd said the opportunity to work together created a learning environment.
“The benefit is the multitude of different experiences, different perspectives,” said Floyd. “There are standing operating procedures and standards, but we all know that a lot of times it’s ingenuity that gets things done. And when you have many diverse people come together, it just shows what you can accomplish.”
Mayes echoed the sentiment, saying he gained new insight on tactics and integration.
“We have the same job title, but we all do things a little bit differently,” said Mayes. “I can learn things here that we can take back to our team.”
Even though the 1st CST and the 102nd CST are located on opposite coasts, the CST brotherhood is a small community and many of the Soldiers and Airmen working the marathon have either worked missions together or attended training together.
“It’s almost like a family reunion,” said Lulay. “I’ve seen about five folks that I went to my initial training with.”
Lulay said the experience has been nothing but positive, “It’s been nice here, they’ve taken great care of us, they prepared us well, and the training here has been professional and hopefully maybe we can have them come and help us sometime.”
Mercado believes the best thing about the CST is truly serving his community, “I’ve been overseas to Iraq twice and Afghanistan once, and now I can truly say when I put on a uniform, I’m doing something that’s going to better my neighbors potentially, keep my community safe.”
| Date Taken: | 04.17.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 07.12.2017 13:29 |
| Story ID: | 240814 |
| Location: | BOSTON, MA, US |
| Web Views: | 129 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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