Photo By 1st Lt. Brianne Roudebush | Staff Sgt. Jose Garcia and Pvt. Michael Lucas, engineers with the California National...... read more read more
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CAMP ROBERTS, Calif. – Operation Dark Horse, Day 3: The sun isn’t up yet, but Spc. Lizette Guillen and Pfc. Jacqueline Astorga are. Their alarms went off at 3:45 a.m., the lights in the barracks were flipped on, and they sleepily stumbled out of bed. Knowing they have a long day ahead of them, they quickly get ready and head outside for a 4:30 a.m. formation.
Immediately following formation, the 870th Military Police Company heads over to the mobile dining facility for breakfast. Two companies are already ahead of them in line, so they wait. Being that it’s November, it’s a chilly morning and the Soldiers have donned their fleece jackets, beanies and gloves as they stand outside chatting and waiting. An hour later, Guillen and Astorga finally make it to the front of the line.
Some Soldiers walk back to the barracks after breakfast; others wait for the bus. They have until 6:30 a.m. to clean the barracks. It’s 3rd platoon’s turn to clean, so they sweep, mop, clean the latrine and take out the trash. As 6:30 a.m. approaches, everyone grabs their large red bags of gear and heads back out to the buses.
They stop in to see the medics before heading out to the training site. They need to get their blood pressure and vitals checked to make sure they are physically healthy to wear hazardous materials suits for extended periods of time.
By 8:30 a.m., they are on their way to the Camp Roberts Combined Arms Collective Training Facility to participate in Operation Dark Horse, a Federal Emergency Management Agency Region IX Homeland Response Force exercise, which simulates a response to a natural disaster. The exercise is preparation for an evaluation in April.
When they step off the buses, they are met with a flurry of activity – first responder firefighters are already on scene assessing victims, Soldiers with the 149th Chemical Company are setting up decontamination tents, and Airmen with the 144th Medical Group are setting up the medical tent.
Guillen and Astorga’s squad has less than 15 minutes to gear up in full decontamination suits and get out to the ‘hot zone,’ or training area. The squad pulls security for more than two hours, ensuring that nobody comes in or out of the contaminated area without following proper procedures.
Guillen says they are usually relieved every hour, but they have to wait for the decontamination tents to be fully functional before they can leave the area. Once the tents are up and running, Guillen and Astorga are relieved. They go through decon, simulating hosing each other off with water. (No water was actually used due to the drought.) By the time they get all their gear off, it is 11:55 a.m.
The behavioral health team has an area set up for Soldiers and Airmen to relax after they come off the line.
“They have water, candy, an area where smokers can smoke, and just relax,” Guillen said. “It’s pretty relaxing.”
Before the training day is over, they go back out to the disaster site again to pull security – this time without the suits on. They are relieved after an hour, and by 4 p.m., the exercise is over.
It only takes the team 30 minutes to tear down all the equipment and get back on the bus. While waiting for leadership to get accountability and make a plan for the rest of the afternoon, Guillen and Astorga fall asleep on the bus. At 5 p.m. they head back to the dining facility for dinner.
After dinner, Guillen and Astorga hang out in the barracks in their uniforms, waiting to hear the call for final formation. They listen to music, make phone calls, check Facebook and Instagram and talk about the events of the day. Finally, they hear that final formation has been canceled and they get ready for bed.
Lights are out at 9:30 p.m. It has been an 18-hour day and they are exhausted. Luckily, they don’t have to wake up quite so early tomorrow. Alarms will go off at 5 a.m. Until then, they sleep.
| Date Taken: | 11.17.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 11.23.2015 18:46 |
| Story ID: | 182683 |
| Location: | CAMP ROBERTS, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 67 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
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