Photo By Staff Sgt. Steven Colvin | A 10th Mountain Division Soldier looks at some of the hand-held monitors from the new...... read more read more
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The Soldiers, assigned to 7th Engineer Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team and 41st Engineer Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat team, received this in-depth training opportunity after the division received two CBRN DR SKO systems in April. The upgraded systems consist of government and commercial off-the shelf equipment that provides detection, identification, sample collection, decontamination, marking and hazard reporting of CBRN threats, as well as improved personnel protection from CBRN hazards.
“The purpose of the doctor SKO training is to give all chemical units a baseline set of instructions on the employment and doctrinal aspects of the equipment,” said Sgt. 1st Class Randy Wilson, a CBRN instructor at Fort Leonard Wood, MO. “The system is intended to provide timely and relevant information with regards to CBRN hazards on the battlefield.”
Occasionally CBRN hazards are in enclosed or confined spaces making the area inaccessible by traditional mounted reconnaissance systems. The CBRN DR SKO supports dismounted reconnaissance, surveillance and site-assessment to enable more detailed reports for commanders.
“This system enhances our Soldiers’ readiness by how quickly we can utilize the equipment and move to a specific area or building that a commander has suspicion of a CBRN threat,” said 1st Lt. Quetzalcoatl Carrasco, a CBRN platoon leader with 41st Eng. “It also increases the level of personnel protection because it has a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) in a fully-encased suit.”
There have been different forms of chemical detection equipment dating as far back as the 1950’s and there have been many improvements throughout the years leading up to the DR SKO, which has been in development since 2008.
“For the past few years we have been using the VDR-2 and the AN/UDR-13,” said Spc. Johnny Walker, a CBRN reconnaissance team leader with 41st Eng. “The equipment we have works pretty well, but the DR SKO is more advanced and is a great improvement. I like the fact that it provides a high level of protection and mobility for the reconnaissance team.”
Before the Soldiers progressed into the hands-on training, they had to inventory the equipment to make sure all the parts and components they received were accounted for. After the inventory, they took classes to familiarize themselves with the CBRN DR SKO system.
“I don’t think many Soldiers really like classroom settings and watching slides, or death by power point, as we call it,” said Sgt. Kyle Belanger, a decontamination team leader for 7th Eng. “I do think that the instructors did a great job incorporating those slides to help us better understand the equipment we were about to work with during the hands-on portion of the training.”
Belanger went on to say that the Soldiers had to go through proper procedures of donning the level A suits, which is the highest level of protection, performing certain tasks and maneuvers while in the suit, and learning how to carefully, yet quickly, take the suit off before putting their training into practice.
After two weeks of classroom and familiarization training, the Soldiers were ready to put their knowledge and skills to the test. They performed initial entry, identification, detection and sampling procedures followed by decontamination routines. They also learned how to properly mark and report CBRN hazards.
“I think everyone got some good training over the past few weeks,” said Walker. “We learned how to use the equipment in a real-life scenario. The hands-on portion of the training was very impressive.”
Walker also said that he learned a lot about the equipment that comes with the DR SKO system, and he especially liked the True Defender, which can specify exactly what chemical or chemicals were being used during the scenario.
Carrasco said the Soldiers really seemed to grasp the operation of the equipment very quickly even though it seemed to be going a little slow at first.
“By the last day of training, the Soldiers were able to shorten their response time by nearly 30 minutes,” said Carrasco. “It was definitely a great opportunity for them to see how this equipment works and how valuable it is to the force.”
The chemical operations specialists of 1st and 2nd BCT plan to continue training with the CBRN DR SKO system so they can hone their strengths and improve on their weaknesses.
| Date Taken: | 05.02.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 05.02.2017 14:08 |
| Story ID: | 232280 |
| Location: | FORT DRUM, NEW YORK, US |
| Web Views: | 95 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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