Photo By Tech. Sgt. Tyler Meister | Oregon Army National Guard (ORARNG) Fatality Search and Recovery Teams, or FSRT, with...... read more read more
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WARRENTON, Ore. – The 102nd Oregon Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN), Enhanced Response Force Package (CERFP), completed and passed their first joint evaluation of 2023 at Camp Rilea Training Center in Warrenton, Oregon on July 13, 2023. Oregon Army and Air National Guardsmen conducted a collective training exercise (CTE) from July 9-14, 2023 to train and prepare for this successful achievement. They proved they have the capability to identify, assess, advise and assist during a CBRN and all-hazard incident.
The 102nd CERFP includes units from Oregon Army National Guard (ORARNG) 821 Troop Command Battalion, 1249th Engineer Battalion and Oregon Air National Guard (ORANG) 142nd Wing.
Additional training support was provided by the 10th Homeland Response Force (HRF) from Washington and Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training (DPSST) out of Salem.
Units need to be certified by the National Guard Bureau every two years and next year, the 102nd is slated to conduct that certification. This was the first time in over two years the entire 102nd CERFP has conducted an exercise as a unit due to restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This combined training exercise provided us the opportunity to refine our process as a unit and better understand the training and evaluation requirements,” said Maj. Andrew Schaal, CERFP Commander.
“Currently, over half of the CERFP members are new to the mission. Over the past few years with COVID restrictions it has been difficult to train as an organization,” Schaal said.
Oregon CERFP is staffed by 208 Army and Air National Guard personnel from units throughout Oregon. They are designed to support the Incident Commander in response to a man-made or natural disaster.
“102nd CERFP not only provides Soldiers an opportunity to learn another skill, but it allows them and their unit the chance to support their local communities in the event of a disaster,” Schaal said.
“I think that we are going to be able to effectively deal with any real-world situations due to such good training, and it’s rewarding knowing that we make such a big impact,” said Spc. Colby Wilkie, a military policeman with 1186 MP Company, 821 TCB.
The CERFP is fully modular and highly mobile; each section can mobilize independently based on the needs of the Incident Commander. These sections include:
- Command and Control (C2) consisting of 19 Oregon Army and Air Guard personnel with a mission to support local, state, and federal agencies in conducting consequence management.
- Search and Extraction (S&E), consisting of 50 ORARNG with a mission to coordinate CBRN victim and casualty search, rescue, and extraction.
- Decontamination(DECON), consisting of 75 ORARNG personnel with a mission to conduct large-scale decontamination of CBRN for patients, personnel, and mission essential equipment.
- Medical, consisting of 47 ANG personnel with a mission to provide medical care in a mass casualty incident with the ability to stabilize & treat 60 patients per hour.
- Fatality Search & Recovery Team (FSRT), consisting of 11 ORANG personnel with a mission to provide mortuary operations via collect, recover, store, prepare, and ship remains of casualties.
- Joint Incident Site Communications Capability (JISCC), consisting of 6 ORANG personnel with a mission to provide critical communications capabilities to civilian/National Guard Units.
Oregon CERFP has the ability to respond to a homeland incident to conduct crisis and consequence management operations in support of civil and federal authorities. All CERFP responders are trained in Hazmat Operations, ICS 100, 200, 700, 800 and Emergency Response to Terrorism.
“When real world disasters happen, state and federal entities can’t do everything and sometimes need help, so being able to partner with fellow Oregon Guardsmen in the Air Guard is extremely beneficial to providing aid,” said 2nd Lt. Miguel Mendoza, CERFP DECON Commander.
“Creating and fostering working and training relationships opens opportunities to further provide humanitarian/community assistance,” Mendoza said. “It’s a huge benefit for our Soldiers to receive this CERFP training because, if something were to happen, the citizens would feel more comfortable knowing that the NG responders are fellow Oregonians who care and are familiar with the area,” he continued.
The National Guard has organized, trained, and equipped 27 National Guard CERFP to provide specialized capabilities that may be requested by local, state, or federal authorities.
The NG CERFP is comprised of fulltime and traditional National Guard personnel that are trained and equipped to perform the functions of Patient Decontamination, Medical Triage, Medical Treatment, and Casualty Search and Extraction during a Catastrophic Event.
“It’s motivating to see how well the Soldiers are performing as they take on the CERFP mission on top of their normal jobs, all while maintaining such high moral,” said Sergeant First Class Patrick Gonzalez, a military policeman with 1186 MP Co. “So many Soldiers have told me they appreciate this opportunity and even one of our senior-enlisted Soldiers told me that being able to do training like this keeps him re-enlisting.”
| Date Taken: | 07.13.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 07.19.2023 20:20 |
| Story ID: | 449321 |
| Location: | WARRENTON, OR, US |
| Hometown: | SALEM, OR, US |
| Hometown: | WARRENTON, OR, US |
| Web Views: | 340 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
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