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| Staff Sgt. Robert Johnson, Pvt. Lauryn Squire, Pfc. Mani Wallace, and Pfc. Cole Yates from 414th Chemical Company decontaminate a civilian role player during Guardian Response 18 at Muscatatuck Urban Training Center, Ind., Apr 12, 2018. Guardian Response 18 is an Army Total Force exercise where Soldiers from all three components must work together to respond effectively to a CBRN scenario. (U.S. Army Reserve photo by Staff Sgt. Carolyn Hawkins) |
04.12.2018
Story by Staff Sgt. Carolyn Hawkins
318th Press Camp Headquarters
Muscatatuck Urban Training Center, Ind. – The morning sun rose over MUTC and the windy mid-April day heated up to a sunny 77 degrees. Displaced civilian casualty role players came in from various search and rescue exercises across the area of operation. Army Reserve and Army National Guard combat medics and chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear specialists triaged displaced civilian casualty role players at the mass casualty decontamination site during a CBRN training scenario Thursday for Guardian Response 18.
Guardian Response 18 is a multi-component training exercise in which all three Army components work together to respond effectively to a notional Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear event. In this scenario, a 10-25 kiloton nuclear device went off in a U.S. town. The Army Reserve established a mass casualty decontamination line and began treating the casualties in support of civilian authorities.
Both the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard are very important parts of Guardian Response 18. The Army Reserve works at a more federal level, while the Army National Guard works at a more local level.
“For my part, I can say that my counterpart who does MCD in the National Guard, we have a pretty good relationship,” said 1st Lt. Nicholas Taillon, Commander of the Army Reserve’s 414th Chemical Company from Orangeburg, S.C. “We keep in contact regularly even though we only see each other one time a year.”
They both work together, along with local responders, to make the mission a success.
“The local responders, firefighters or HAZMAT team don’t have the same depth of funding that the Reserve has,” said Taillon, “so in the event that there is something catastrophic that happens, it overwhelms them and we have that capacity to respond anywhere in the United States with greater resources, funding and personnel strength. We can assist them with that and be available.”
1st Lt. Michael Fedner, from the Army National Guard’s 231st Chemical Company in Reisterstown, Md., who is in charge of the National Guard team at the mass casualty decontamination line, has been with the unit for nine years.
“In a real-world scenario, the Command and Control Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear Response Element-A [Army Reserve] are called up first, then the National Guard follows on after that. That’s due to the framework, so realistically the Reserve would set up this decontamination line and we would come in as relief-in-place,” said Fedner.
They can only operate for about 12 hours, so the National Guard comes in to relieve them. Then they can rest before they come back, he added.
“We were responding to a casualty event that occurred inside of the United States, at the back with the Army National Guard 251st Area Support Medical Company to treat patients and bring them the best care we can,” said Sgt. Kyle Everett, a combat medic who was triaging and treating patients in the ambulatory tent.
Many Soldiers feel that MUTC is a great place to train because of its realistic environment.
“MUTC is one of the best training facilities I’ve been to especially for the mission we have to where you actually feel like you’re in that situation,” said Everett.
Spc. Michael Lee, another combat medic with the 251st ASMC said he’s learned a lot from the training.
Maj. Brian Casey, a field surgeon with the 251st ASMC, also spends a lot of his time in between exercises to train the Soldiers with his medical knowledge, said Lee.
“I love the training,” said Lee. “It really benefits us.”
