Photo By Airman 1st Class Joey Weis-Petticord | U.S. Air Force emergency managers assigned to the 1st Special Operations Wing and the...... read more read more
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HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. — As the morning sun blazed down on Hurlburt Field, emergency management teams from the 1st Special Operations Wing and Eglin Air Force Base's 96th Test Wing, urgently donned chemical radiation suits in synchronized precision. The emergency managers tightly secured tape around each other's wrists and ankles—no room for error, no margin for exposure.
Moments earlier, a call had crackled across their radios: downed aircraft, suspected radioactive materials. The objective: secure the crash site, recover the casualty and contain any hazardous materials.
While the scene unfolded with the urgency of a real-world crisis, it was, in fact, a planned joint training exercise. The scenario was designed to test the coordinated response capabilities of the 1st SOW and 96th TW in the event of a large-scale incident involving radioactive materials.
Teams deployed to the site of the simulated downed aircraft where, after validation by security forces, they set up a command center and divided into groups to detect radiation, search for casualties and missing materials and perform decontamination procedures.
“This kind of exercise prepares us for the worst-case scenario,” said the 1 SOW’s emergency management training coordinator. “The main purpose is to make sure we have a foundation of cohesiveness and collaboration so that, in the event of a large-scale incident, we can respond together effectively and swiftly.”
The weeks leading up to this exercise included smaller, focused drills including search patterns, casualty extraction, and decontamination.
“We’ve been doing scenario-based training for specific equipment or situations,” the coordinator explained. “This exercise puts all those skills together and requires teams to work as one to accomplish the objectives.”
The training coordinator emphasized the importance of working in collaboration with the team from Eglin.
“It’s good to have a sense of partnership—it’s not just us alone,” she explained. “It ensures that no matter who’s on your team or where you’re deployed, you can get the mission accomplished.”
| Date Taken: | 10.27.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 11.13.2025 15:44 |
| Story ID: | 550822 |
| Location: | HURLBURT FIELD, US |
| Web Views: | 42 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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