BUTLERVILLE, Ind. - It's the kind of disaster people don't like to think about, but the Chemical Enhance Force Protection Package, or CERFP, from Ohio trains to respond to victims of chemical attacks everyday. For one whole week in August, the CERFP came to the Muscatatuck urban Training Center to do just that.
During the exercise victims of the chemical attack were "traumatized" as they were transported to one area. The Soldiers and Airmen who were helping them were dressed in yellow chemical protection suits and trying to calm the survivors.
"Muscatatuck is an absolutely perfect setting for what we do," said CERFP Commander Lt. Col. Scott Smith. "Our men and women can pull a victim from the rubble and have to bring them straight to [decontamination] without having to pause to reset the exercise."
The CERFP is made up of chemical and engineering Soldiers and Air Force medics pulled together from the Ohio Army and Air National Guard. In all, more than 600 personnel were brought to Muscatatuck to train.
The task for the CERFP was to set up a decontamination station in under 90 minutes in a real-world environment. Search and rescue teams could then bring victims to the decon station in order to save their lives. It was a task the team completed with 22 minutes to spare.
According to Cpt. Marshall Jackson, Ohio state Public Affairs Officer, United States Army North validated the CERFP and was impressed with their performance. The Soldiers and Airmen who participated in the exercise were impressed as well.
"There is really realistic stuff here," Pvt. Michael Cooper said. "Especially on the rubble piles. I've never seen so many victims brought to us at one time... It's stuff you would see in real life."
Real people were placed inside vehicles and under piles of debris in order to create a realistic training situation for the Soldiers and Airmen, unlike any they had experienced before.
Air Force Staff Sgt. Kristen Bandey said that working in the training environment made the trip from Ohio worth the drive. "It's a lot of hard work, but in the end, it's really rewarding."
The Ohio CERFP will be returning to Muscatatuck in November when ARNORTH will conduct a homeland security exercise. From the look of this training, they will be ready.
| Date Taken: |
08.20.2009 |
| Date Posted: |
08.20.2009 18:55 |
| Story ID: |
37760 |
| Location: |
BUTLERVILLE, US |
| Web Views: |
461 |
| Downloads: |
388 |
PUBLIC DOMAIN
This work, Ohio Force Protection Team Trains at Muscatatuck Urban Training Center, by Brad Staggs, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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