Photo By Master Gunnery Sgt. Matt Epright | Lance Cpl. Joseph Miller, left, from Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263...... read more read more
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FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. - The Marines enter the room in full chemical protective gear, ready for anything they may encounter. Using specialized detection equipment, they begin methodically scanning the makeshift chemical weapon lab.
In most training environments, anything the Marines would find would be notional. But in Fort Leonard Wood's unique Chemical Defense Training Facility, one of only two in the nation, the nerve agent they discover is the real thing.
"The Marines are actually able to go in there and take physical samples and see that, no kidding, it is true agent and that their gear does work," said Chief Warrant Officer-3 Steven Dancer, the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear defense officer and native of New Egypt, N.J.
In a first for a Marine Expeditionary Unit, the Camp Lejeune-based 22nd MEU CBRN Consequence Management Team trained at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., Dec. 2 - 4.
Though the Marine Corps CBRN Defense School is co-located at the base with the other services' chemical defense schools, Marines typically only attend training there as individuals.
Dancer and the MEU's CBRN-D Chief, Gunnery Sgt. Kody Hedquist, pushed hard to get some specialized training for the MEU's team.
With roughly half of the team consisting of Marines from other military occupational specialties who haven't gone through Fort Leonard Wood for the basic CBRN school, getting the team the chance to train in the live-agent facility was a unique opportunity.
Hedquist, a native of Keizer, Ore., was the Chief Instructor at the Marine Corps CBRN School on Fort Leonard Wood before he came to the 22nd MEU, so a few phone calls and a lot of coordination got the ball rolling on the exercise.
The first day, the Marines trained at the CDTF. After extensive medical screenings and gear checks, the Marines suited up and entered the "hot" area to practice locating and properly identifying hazardous chemical and biological agents.
Even watching the Marines through the protective glass, there is a certain level of extra awareness heightened by the numerous warning signs and chemical warning alarms laid out throughout the passageways.
For the Marines that enter the hot zone, it can be a little nerve-wracking, especially if it's their first time.
"When we put the M-8 [nerve-agent detection] paper down on top of it and it turned green, I was standing right next to it," said Lance Cpl. John Rougeau, a native of Plainville, Mass.
Even so, the Marines have a job to do and they have the gear to protect themselves.
"I just try to keep it in the back of my mind. The gear works," said Lance Cpl. Jose Figuroa, a native of San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico. "You trust the gear and work with what you have."
Figuroa is a radio repairman and Rougeau is an intelligence analyst, both from the MEU's Ground Combat Element, Battalion Landing Team, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment. They are two of ten team members who received the live training for the first time.
"It brings different MOS's together," Figuroa said. "We bring different backgrounds into the whole spectrum. That way we have different opinions and different points of view."
On day two, the Marines went to the base's 1st Lt. Joseph Terry Incident Responder Training Facility, where they received refresher training on some of the gear they may have to use in a real-life incident, as well as some newer equipment the Marine Corps is planning to field in the future.
The Marines also had the opportunity to tour the elaborate training grounds - a small mockup city that includes everything from vehicles and railcars, to a complete post office. There is even a non-working sewer system and a "cave" complex for confined-space training.
"We don't have anything like this at Camp Lejeune, like the cave complex we've got at Fort Leonard Wood," said Dancer. "It just offers a training menu that we can't get back on the east coast."
The Marines spent their third and final day of training in the cave system practicing how to perform chemical and biological reconnaissance in a cloistered facility that could contain unknown hazards around any corner.
"We've done a lot of training. More hands-on and realistic training than we have done before," said Sgt. Joshua Machado, a CBRN-D specialist with the MEU's Logistics Combat Element, Combat Logistics Battalion 22 and native of Arvin, Calif.
As the first group of their kind to do this, the Marines will take what they've learned here and discuss how to make it better and offer the idea to other MEUs in the Marine Corps with the concept of possibly making the training a regular event.
"This is just taking one more capability set and providing it for the MEU commander to use," said Dancer.
The 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit is a scalable, multi-purpose force of more than 2,200 Marines and Sailors. Commanded by Col. Gareth F. Brandl, it consists of its Ground Combat Element, BLT 3/2; Aviation Combat Element, Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263; Logistics Combat Element, CLB-22; and its Command Element.
| Date Taken: | 12.04.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 12.09.2008 12:48 |
| Story ID: | 27386 |
| Location: | ALABAMA, US |
| Web Views: | 403 |
| Downloads: | 130 |
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