Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Jessica Forester | U.S. Army Reserve Cpt. Sean Homburger, the operations officer for the 773rd Civil...... read more read more
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Members of the 773rd Civil Support Team, 7th Mission Support Command and members of the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces (FAR), Salvage and Rescue Unit concluded weeks of training with a Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear demonstration at the Port of Agadir, Morocco, Jun. 11, closing out African Lion.
The 773rd is a technical HAZMAT reaction team, the only one of its kind in the U.S. Army Europe - Africa area of operations. The two units cooperated, completing academics and scenario based training lanes, building shared understanding of HAZMAT and weapons of mass destruction response procedures, and interoperability between partners. U.S. Army Reserve Cpt. Sean Homburger, the operations officer for the 773rd and the officer in charge describes the role of the CST.
“Our role in the exercise was to conduct blocks of instruction on CBRN and weapons of destruction event response,” said Homburger. “We then integrated with our CBRN partners and applied the techniques and procedures.”
The culminating demonstration, attended by a delegation of Moroccan and U.S. military leaders, including Maj. Gen. Todd R. Wasmund, commanding general, U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF,) centered on a scenario where a drone initiated an explosion in a warehouse at the port, resulting in mass casualties, some of whom showed signs of chemical wounds. The multi-national team, in cooperation with explosive ordnance disposal support, responded accordingly. As the event kicked off, each section expertly engaged in their part of the HAZMAT / WMD response process – evacuation, decontamination, medical triage, reconnaissance, and sampling.
Sgt. 1st Class Edward Cuevas, the communications team chief for the 773rd, integrated as a member of the combined mass casualty decontamination team, helping to rid casualties of contaminants. “This is a very important phase in the CBRN event response process,” said Cuevas. “We receive casualties, quickly and systematically removing contaminated garments, washing, rinsing, and monitoring each person for chemical contamination before sending them to medical triage or evacuation. This prevents cross contamination between the affected casualty, the medical staff and general population.”
Following the evacuation of the ‘hot zone,’ the reconnaissance team moved in, led by U.S. Army Reserve Spc. John De Jesus – Torres (DJ), a survey team member from the 773rd, accompanied by two Moroccan CBRN soldiers. “We moved in using detection equipment and marked the contaminated area for the teams that would follow us,” said DJ. “We identified a leaking barrel which my partners successfully sealed. We documented the layout of the site and our activities and communicated back to the operations team.”
As the reconnaissance team moved out, a three-person sampling team moved in, a FAR Sgt. leading the way. “Our Moroccan team chief communicated with the incident command center and lead us through the sampling process to make sure we collected our sample properly,” said U.S. Army Reserve Sgt. Tristan Abuyen, a survey team member with the 773rd. “My other Moroccan counterpart acted as our ‘clean man,’ handling and providing the proper equipment so that I, as the sampler, or the ‘dirty man,’ could extract the sample from the drum.”
Following the completion of the demonstration, the leader delegation walked through each phase site, asking questions of the subject matter experts, and reinforcing their understanding of joint capabilities.
“African Lion demonstrates the shared commitment to regional stability in North and West Africa,” said Maj. Gen. Todd R. Wasmund. “Together with our African and international partners, we conduct a joint, all-domain, multi-component, and multinational exercise, employing a full array of mission capabilities with the goal to strengthen interoperability among participants and set the theater for strategic access.”
Events like this would not be possible without the total force contributions of both Guardsmen and Reservists. Army and Air Guardsmen along with Army and Marine Corps Reservists provide critical support throughout U.S. Army Africa Command through a host of engagements with a variety of nations. Building partnerships, supporting civil infrastructure, and establishing security and professional defense institutions help a government create the stability its population needs to establish a thriving, peaceful nation.
The 773rd conducted operations at two locations during African Lion – Bizerte, Tunisia and Agadir, Morocco. Their ability to successfully deploy and support the exercise in this capacity illustrates the integral role the 7th Mission Support Command plays in operations in the USAEUR-AF theater, as well as the flexibility, proficiency and professionalism of U.S. Army Reserve Soldiers and units. Exercises such as African Lion provide opportunities for specialized Army Reserve units to assess, develop, and train alongside Allies and partners, getting the repetitions needed to fight and win together on the modern-day battlefield and illustrates the vital role America’s Army Reserve fills in unilateral military operations around the globe. 18 nations and approximately 8,000 personnel participated in African Lion 2023, U.S. Africa Command's largest annual combined, joint exercise, which took place in multiple countries to include Morocco, from May 13 - June 18, 2023.
| Date Taken: | 06.11.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 01.02.2024 05:20 |
| Story ID: | 460827 |
| Location: | AGADIR, MA |
| Hometown: | BAKERSFIELD, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Hometown: | EVERGREEN, COLORADO, US |
| Hometown: | LACEY, WASHINGTON, US |
| Hometown: | TRENTON, NEW JERSEY, US |
| Web Views: | 251 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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