Photo By Staff Sgt. Jamie Titus | Airmen search the surrounding area for any unexploded explosive ordnances, exploded...... read more read more
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Approximately 271 Airmen participated in an Ability to Survive and Operate exercise during an on-site visit March 8-10, 2019, at the 155th Air Refueling Wing, Nebraska National Guard air base in Lincoln, Nebraska.
The Airmen learned how to put on and take off each level of their Mission-Oriented Protective Postures gear, how to decontaminate it and continue doing their job while in MOPP four gear.
Four is the highest level of MOPP gear and consists of a gas mask, a specialized suit, rubber boots and rubber gloves that they must put on in a limited amount of time in the event of a chemical or biological attack.
With the threat of chemical warfare becoming more relevant to our Airmen nationally, knowing how to use MOPP gear is a life-saving skill.
“It is extremely important that our Airmen have the ability to be able to use that gear should we face that adversary,” said Lt. Col. Bryan Scholtes, 155th ARW inspector general. “It comes down to readiness. We want to make sure that when the Wing gets the phone call and we deploy people, that when they get their gear, they know how to use it and they are ready and able when that happens.”
The participating Airmen went through three, hour-long ATSO skills classes with the goal to return to their units with the knowledge to teach the others who have never gone through the exercise before, or who are in need of a refresher.
In these classes they practiced going from different MOPP levels, how to set up zone transition points as a post attack reconnaissance team and evaluate M8 paper results as well as cover up equipment outside correctly to avoid contamination.
The M8 paper are sheets of paper that when exposed to a chemical agent will change colors according to what type of agent is present. The more saturated the paper is the more contaminated the area is where the M8 paper is located.
Another area of concern is coming from a higher MOPP level location through a transition point to a lower level of contamination. Airmen must know how to decontaminate their gear before entering these areas to posture the correct gear to survive.
Next the Airmen performed how to operate in wartime conditions where alarms alert base members of the type of condition they respond to by donning the correct gear according to each level.
“[The MOPP Gear] is hot, it’s heavy,” said Senior Airman Mersades Clingenpeel, a finance technician with the 155th Comptroller Flight. “You have to be fast.”
One goal of the ATSO training is for Airmen to continue to do their specific jobs while in their gear and get familiar with all of the equipment.
Scholtes said while he was getting ready to deploy for Afghanistan he realized how many Airmen have never done this training before or it has been so long that they may have forgotten parts of this training.
“I’m going through my bag and I’m pulling stuff out and there was this vacuum-packed square of an item that I pulled out of my bag and I had no idea what that was,” Scholtes said. “I looked at it and it was M8 tape and I’m like ‘oh crap,’ I’ve been doing that for so long and I didn’t even know what that thing was inside my issued gear. So if I don’t know that, I’m sure there’s a [billion] young Airmen that don’t have the foggiest idea what that is.”
Col. Robert Hargens, 155th ARW commander, summed up the reason behind this training with one phrase: “Being ready to go when the nation calls.”
| Date Taken: | 03.08.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 04.25.2019 13:37 |
| Story ID: | 319407 |
| Location: | LINCOLN, NE, US |
| Web Views: | 72 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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