25th Transportation Battalion conducts a CBRN situational training exercise

Photo By Pfc. Sung Eun Kim | Instructors help soldiers from the 25th Transportation Battalion properly put on their Joint Service Lightweight Integrated Suit Technology gear at Camp Carroll, South Korea June 12. The 25th Transportation Battalion conducted a three-day CBRN exercise in conjunction with an aware-at-readiness exercise from June 11-13, which consisted of basic survival at skill-level 10 and 20 tasks and the unit conducting N-hour sequence to test their systems for movement.  

DAEGU GWANG'YEOGSI [TAEGU-KWANGYOKSHI], SOUTH KOREA

06.15.2012

Story by Pfc. Sung Eun Kim 

19th Expeditionary Sustainment Command

WAEGWAN, South Korea— The 25th Transportation Battalion, subordinate to the 19th Expeditionary Sustainment Command, conducted a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear situational training exercise at Camp Carroll June 11-13.

Soldiers from outlining units around the Republic of Korea tested their N-hour sequence to travel to Camp Carroll, and upon arrival, practiced basic skill-level 10 and 20 tasks such as using Reactive Skin Decontamination Lotion and operating Joint Chemical Agent Detectors.

After the in-briefing, soldiers were broken up into small groups to spread out to different lanes where they received detailed and focused training.

At the RSDL lane, soldiers learned about the difference between the older decontamination method, using charcoal packets, versus the new.

“The difference between the Reactive Skin Decontamination Lotion and charcoal is that it is no longer active carbon, and so you don’t get black marks all over your face when you mark up your face,” said Staff Sgt. Larry S. Young, 25th Transportation Battalion CBRN non-commissioned officer in charge. “It is now something closer to lotion that absorbs and destroys the chemical agent.”

At the Joint Chemical Agent Detector lane, soldiers practiced operating equipment that was more transportable compared to its predecessors such as the M43A1 Automatic Chemical Agent Detector and the M22 Automatic Chemical Agent Alarm.

“JCAD is the size of a paperback book,” said Young. “We went from something that was seriously cumbersome, burdensome, hard to carry, more difficult to operate to now where you can actually put it in your gear for move out.”

There are new features on CBRN equipment which require training in order to operate them properly.

“Some of the new decontaminating systems are new to me, such as how you can detect the different chemicals,” said Sgt. 1st Class John Isiah Miles, 25th Transportation Battalion S-4 non-commissioned officer in charge. “I recommend everybody who has never got to use the device to receive some training on these excellent devices.”

CBRN Training is important for soldiers stationed in South Korea.

“There is a threat here (South Korea) and chemical weapons are usually one of the first methods for a foreign army’s invasions,” said Sgt. Christopher Haney, 517th Movement Control Team non-commissioned officer in charge for crew 2. “Being in Korea is not the same as being in the continental United States.”

• Date Taken: 06.15.2012
• Date Posted: 06.15.2012 02:50
• Story ID: 90043
• Location: DAEGU GWANG'YEOGSI [TAEGU-KWANGYOKSHI], KR