Photo By Tech. Sgt. Gwendolyn Blakley | U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Jeff W. Mathis III, commander, Joint Task Force Civil Support,...... read more read more
FORT EUSTIS, Va. - More than 100 military leaders and emergency response representatives from across the U.S. met March 5-7 here to discuss the role military and emergency management agencies play in the event of a domestic catastrophic event.
Hosted by Joint Task Force Civil Support, the three-day exercise and conference allowed military commanders from various federal, state and National Guard response organizations to review response processes and capabilities following a “complex catastrophe” in the U.S., such as a nuclear detonation in a large metropolitan area.
The event focused on a need for continual collaboration by responders at all levels of government before an event occurs. Attendees participated in unit mission briefs, capabilities discussions, and an hour-by-hour domestic response “walkthrough” of military support to a state-led response following a chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear catastrophe.
“Relationships are huge,” said U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Jeff W. Mathis III, commander, JTF-CS. “Every conversation we had was collaborative and supportive; we have to work together to take this thing forward.”
JTF-CS is the only standing federal chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear joint task force in the U.S. If called upon to support state-level emergency response operations, such as responding to a nuclear detonation or catastrophic chemical spill, JTF-CS provides command and control of 5,200 federal military forces throughout the U.S. that make up the Defense CBRN Response Force.
Even across the military, different operating procedures, response timelines, communication equipment, response capabilities must be synchronized across all levels of a response to ensure “unity of effort,” and – ultimately – maximize time and resources to save lives following disaster. The three-day event proved that no detail is too small to ensure absolute synchronization and understanding between responders – even ambiguity in communications could impact the speed and success of a response, according to attendees.
“We need to be talking the same language,” said Army Col. Robin Blanchard, commander, Region 10 Homeland Response Force. “It is easier for the incident commander to understand if [we] are talking the same language.”
The exercise provided a forum for collaborative discussion on not only how state and federal military units respond to disasters, but also their individual ability to respond within a certain period of time after the disaster.
After all, time lost during a response can equate to lives lost.
Unlike a response to a hurricane or other natural disaster, a10 kiloton nuclear detonation, considered by many as the most devastating catastrophe outlined in the National Response Framework, radiation, destroyed critical infrastructure and mass casualties can add unique challenges for responders at all levels.
“This is not a usual and customary event,” said Mathis. “This is different. This is a bad day in America. If it's a 10 KT, not only is it a bad day, but it is an attack on the United States.”
General officers, commanders and other key federal and National Guard staff reviewed and discussed the capabilities of the Defense CBRN Response Force, one of the federal military components to the 18,000-plus CBRN Response Enterprise. The Response Enterprise is a network of homeland response military units that plan, train and work closely with federal, state and local government agencies in anticipation of a catastrophic CBRN event in the homeland.
Attendees also examined how that Response Force would integrate in a state-level response, where local and state teams will spend the crucial first hours after a disaster striving to search for, evacuate and medically treat survivors.
While the Response Force has similar capabilities to many of its National Guard counterparts, the force relies on federal military units scattered throughout more than 36 locations within the continental U.S. to be trained and ready to respond anywhere in the U.S. The force is divided into deployable force packages designed to respond within set time periods following a catastrophic CBRN incident. The first force package, designed to respond to an incident within 24 hours of activation, is front loaded with various life-saving military assets, such as search and rescue and emergency medical treatment personnel and equipment. Follow on forces provide more long-term logistical, engineer and medical support.
These forces, made up of military units from all branches of service, must be able to integrate with not only National Guard units, but civilian federal, state and local responders, too. The key to a successful response is collaboration, the “open conversations about how we will work together,” said Blanchard.
“We may not have all the facts and as we know each situation will bring different dynamics but getting to know each other now and developing the relationships will make negotiating those challenges in the thick of an incident much smoother,” said Blanchard.
Attendees spent the final day of the conference “walking” through a simulated response to a nuclear detonation in a major U.S. city – hour-by-hour, from the time the simulated incident occurred through the first 36 hours of a state-led response. The walkthrough allowed attendees to consider how and when units would respond, what equipment and capabilities they would employ, and share best practices to overcoming unique, complex challenges organizations could face during a response.
“I believe there was a helpful exchange of ideas and perspectives that will only benefit the CRE (CBRN Response Enterprise) into the future,” said U.S. Army Col. Mark K. O’Hanlon, director of Operations, Joint Force Headquarters-Pennsylvania.
Still, the JTF-CS-led exercise was merely one forum for interagency collaboration among CBRN Response Enterprise leaders and other response organizations. Participants seemed in agreement that the “conversations” started this week must continue in future, collaborative forums, including liaison officer exchange programs, web-based communications, conferences, training exercises and planning meetings.
“Interagency planning will only benefit if we are able to continue to incorporate key players into future conferences, workshops, working groups, etc.,” said O’Hanlon in an email response to questions. “I believe regional planning will become better if we are able to nest the JTF-CS capability into the awareness of the State Emergency Managers responsible for executing consequence management plans.”
JTF-CS and the Fiscal Year 2014 Defense CBRN Response Force will validate its response capabilities this August during Vibrant Response, U.S. Northern Command’s annual field training exercise that evaluates the operational capabilities of about 9,000 Department of Defense personnel in support of a homeland response following a “complex catastrophe.”
| Date Taken: | 03.11.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 03.11.2013 11:57 |
| Story ID: | 103260 |
| Location: | FORT EUSTIS, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 589 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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