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The 102nd Intelligence Wing’s Communications Flight and Medical Group Detachment 1 joined the 104th Fighter Wing and the Massachusetts Army National Guard in a combined training event (CTE) on Joint Base Cape Cod, Massachusetts, May 19, 2023.
The CTE was in preparation of an upcoming evaluation of the Joint Incident Site Communications Capability (JISCC) and the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and high-yield Explosives (CBRNE) Enhanced Response Force Package (CERFP).
“This training event is important because we haven't really done any training in the past few years due to COVID,” said Capt. Cory Fonger, JISCC Officer in Charge (OIC), 102nd Communications Flight. “These skills are perishable, so we need to keep practicing those skills every year or two.”
The JISCC is a deployable element of the CERFP mission that provides communications assistance to the command and control (C2) element in emergency response domestic operations. This support includes wireless internet, laptops, phones and radio.
“One of the first things that happens in a domestic event is cell towers get jammed because everybody's grabbing that phone. Everybody's trying to call their family, trying to call a loved one, see if they're OK or to let people know they're OK,” said Master Sgt. Christopher “CJ” Allen, JISCC Non-Commissioned Officer In Charge (NCOIC), 102nd Communications Flight. “So once that happens, that's where we come in. We have our communication set up to provide satellite communications so people can still keep that interoperability happening.”
In emergency response to a CBRNE disaster, the JISCC would quickly deploy and set up communications assistance to the fire department, police department, military and first responders on the scene, said Allen. These capabilities would extend to the search and extraction teams who are transporting victims to the medical tent for potential decontamination and treatment.
The 102nd Medical Group Detachment 1 is an all-hazards response unit that specializes in chemical and biological agents. The unit took part in the CTE and practiced setting up medical tents, which would act as a fully functioning intensive care unit in a real world disaster. The multi-capable Airmen are trained to extricate patients from possibly contaminated or dangerous areas and provide lifesaving care at their Casualty Collection Points.
“We have the capability to intubate patients, triage and stabilize all types of injuries,” said Maj. Ann Leifer, 102nd Medical Group Detachment 1, CERFP, Nurse Practitioner. “We have medics that are integrated with our search and extraction folks that can go to the point of injury and stabilize those patients, decontaminate them with the Army unit, then they come to us in the medical tent and we can stabilize and treat those patients.”
Due to COVID-19 restrictions in the past, the CERFP training mission had been limited for the 102nd Medical Group Detachment 1 and 102nd Communications Flight. This CTE was an opportunity to refamiliarize the Massachusetts Air National Guardsmen with their equipment and train with their Army counterparts.
“What's really important about this mission particularly is that we have the opportunity here to train with our sister service, the Army,” said 2nd Lt. Trevor Simone, 102nd Medical Group Detachment 1, CERFP. “We are very intertwined … It's very important that we have these opportunities to train together now, rather, so that when we're called upon, that we can respond accordingly and we know how to integrate and coordinate effectively.”
| Date Taken: | 05.25.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 05.25.2023 08:28 |
| Story ID: | 445517 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE CAPE COD, MASSACHUSETTS, US |
| Web Views: | 105 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, 102nd Communications Flight and 102nd Medical Group train with Army for CERFP mission, by SrA Julia Ahaesy, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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