Photo By Master Sgt. Roland Sturm | Airmen and soldiers from the Indiana National Guard establish, operate and coordinate...... read more read more
Subscribe
CAMP ATTERBURY JOINT MANEUVER TRAINING CENTER, Ind. -- Airmen from the 181st Medical Group joined their counterparts from the Indiana Army National Guard, assembling as the 19th Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and high-yield Explosives Enhanced Response Force Package, known as a CERFP, during a pre-external evaluation sustainment year collective training event at Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center, Aug. 7-12 to assess their capability, proficiency and readiness prior to their SYCTE scheduled to happen later this year.
The SYCTE is multi-day evaluation that consists of an all-elements operation, simulating either man-made or natural disaster scenarios to measure the readiness of CERFP units. SYCTEs are performed every other year under the evaluation of national observers to measure efficiency, identify limitations and share best practices.
“It's very important for the team to perform these exercises [and] these evaluations because it creates more comfortability with their mission [and] their roles as it contributes to the mission,” said Air Force Master Sgt. Tyrone Fisher, an Indianapolis native now serving as an observer, coach and trainer with the National Guard Bureau Joint Surgeon General Office. “My job is to come out here and evaluate the team as far as our standards go as if they had to respond to any type of natural disaster or CBRNE.”
In 2004, Congress authorized the activation of 12 National Guard CERFPs throughout the United States, increasing the authorization to 17 CERFPs in 2006. All 17 are aligned within their corresponding FEMA Regions. Indiana’s 19th CERFP operates within FEMA Region V, serving Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin during times of disaster.
CERFPs are authorized 208 personnel to fulfill six elements contained within the task force: the Joint Incident Site Communications Capability, command and control, search and extraction, decontamination, medical and fatality search and recovery.
“We are the states’ insurance policy,” said Air Force Lt. Col. Laura Flood, a native of Bloomfield, who serves as the 19th CERFP Detachment 1 medical element commander overseeing the medical operations on the CERFP footprint. “When the local resources for responding to tragic events that overwhelm the local resources happen, we can be put in place to support them and provide them the continuity to get back to their full operations.”
When directed by the Secretary of Defense, coordinated by the Chief of the National Guard Bureau, and upon consent of the Governor(s) during major or catastrophic CBRN incidents, the Homeland Response Force and CERFP alerts, recalls and deploys critical command and control and life-saving capabilities within six hours, deploys and conducts command and control, search and extraction, mass casualty decontamination and medical stabilization in order to save lives and mitigate human suffering.
The 19th CERFP airmen themselves are part of the 181st Intelligence Wing, which is one of the leading intelligence organizations in the Air National Guard. Located at Hulman Field Air National Guard Base in Terre Haute, the 181st IW supports contingencies around the world while ensuring readiness to support the local community and the state of Indiana.
| Date Taken: | 09.28.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 09.28.2022 10:03 |
| Story ID: | 430241 |
| Location: | CAMP ATTERBURY JOINT MANEUVER TRAINING CENTER, IN, US |
| Web Views: | 287 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, 19th CERFP tests life-saving disaster equipment, skills at Camp Atterbury, by MSgt Roland Sturm, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT