CAMP ATTERBURY, Indiana – If there were ever another disastrous attack on U.S. soil, joint forces would have to combine their professional techniques and put them into action. In order for that to happen, realistic annual training is needed.
Service members, government officials and agencies across the nation participated in the Vibrant Response Training Exercise, at Camp Atterbury, Indiana on May 11, for simulated training in responding to a catastrophic domestic incident.
“Vibrant Response is an exercise to confirm three two-star headquarters,” said Kevin Kirmse, a senior exercise planner for U.S. Army North out of Fort Sam Houston Texas. “Once a year they have to be confirmed to take the [mission] starting on June 1 of every year. Basically, that is what we are here to do to build the exercise.”
The participants are evaluated by the operations control personnel on how they react to scenarios, and complete an after action review to be confirmed.
“Right now we are focused on the computer-based portion of the exercise as opposed to an actual field training,” said Duane Bowen, an exercise planner for ARNORTH. “This is a big deal that we do this because different units don't have the opportunity to train together. This is almost a collective training for the headquarters elements.”
Every June, the participants assume the Defense Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Response Force (DCRF) mission, which provides trained and ready forces into a situation where a disaster occurred.
Additionally, the Command and Control Defense Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Response Force Alpha and Bravo (C2CRE) mission is activated as well, if necessary.
“We do it in two phases: phase one, is with Joint Task Force Civil Support, and phase two is with the two C2CREs,” said Kirmse. “This year it's with Task Force 76 and Task Force 38.”
For example, a nuclear explosion may happen or a nuclear power plant may have a leak. The trained forces would have to react with proper gear, on how to save lives by mitigating suffering, provide medical support, and set up decontamination sites.
The purpose of the exercise is to train them in their specified mission to save lives in a CBRN situation.
“My role is to bring all the different agencies together to intermingle their training objectives with our training objectives,” said Kirmse. “It gives a good training event for the units here.”
Role players are also added to the exercise to assist with the training.
“The exercise is going well,” said Kirmse. “The DCRF part of the exercise ended Saturday and was very successful. Today [Wednesday], is the start of the C2CRE phase two. [The National Guard and Reserves] were quite busy after having only 72 hours to come in and set up.”
The exercise allowed Soldiers to understand how the military works with different entities during a crisis.
“Both training's provided more of a reality of how things operate on a national-level in case of a disaster,” said Sgt. 1st Class Dewayne Mace, a higher command noncomissioned officer in charge for 167th Theater Sustainment Command, out of Fort McClellan, Alabama. “It's also a good opportunity to work with different agencies and learn from them. The exercise allowed us to be well-rounded in different missions within the homeland outside of regular Army missions.”
Kirmse and his team simulated a 10-kiloton nuclear bomb detonation, in a major city in the U.S. city, which was acted out in real-time.
Participating elements were required to demonstrate their abilities during the crisis.
During the first phase, Kirmse learned how to concentrate on all participants training objective, and find ways to get everyone on the same page. He believes it helped make the training efficient.
The military train to support government agencies when they are requested.
“We are not in charge of any disaster,” said Kirmse. “Every disaster is controlled by the state in which it happens.”