Photo By Capt. Cody Stagner | The Kentucky National Guard's 41st Civil Support Team conducted their Training...... read more read more
BOSTON, Ky. -- Soldiers of the 41st Civil Support Team (CST), 75th Troop Command, participated in a pair of evaluation exercises earlier this year. The team was at Jim Beam’s Booker Noe Plant in Boston, Kentucky on March 7, 2024, where they investigated a scenario involving a possible anthrax exposure.
The team made its way through a distillery warehouse where they encountered a substance and other items that could be used in a planned attack. The initial entry team took photos and observed the potential substance. A secondary team made entry to collect samples to be analyzed and to deactivate any threats.
Evaluations are completed once every 18 months to ensure that all CSTs operate at the same standard, according to Scott Boatman, an evaluation analyst with CST Army-North based in San Antonio, Texas. Additional training is completed every 12 months.
“We're doing an evaluation of the 41st CST and we are here setting the environment for them to come in and do what they do,” Boatman said. “Basically, we're here to check the baseline standard to make sure that they do the job that they're tasked to do.”
The CSTs were created after the September 11 attacks to give governors and their states a hazmat capability that they didn’t have enabling them to deal with weapons of mass destruction type scenarios. There are 57 teams across the country.
The teams most commonly work with local and state police agencies but also work with federal agencies as well.
“The CSTs are a great asset,” Boatman said. “I think they're an untapped asset in a lot of states.”
Lt. Col. Joe Fontanez, commander of the 41st CST, says that the Soldiers that make up the team are a resource for first responders in identifying and mitigating hazards. As such, the team is evaluated on their tactical and technical proficiencies.
“Army-North came out and conducted our proficiency evaluation,” said Fontanez. “We're externally evaluated by Army-North to ensure that we can, in fact, do what we're supposed to do as charged by the Kentucky National Guard and the taxpayers. We were trained across the board and certified for continued operations.”
Staff Sgt. Zachary Bays values diverse training environments to enhance their skills and describes their role in a specialized team that responds to unknown hazards encountered by local law enforcement or firefighters.
“It's nice to get to different venues and see different scenarios,” Bays said. “It wouldn't be beneficial if we saw the same thing every time we train. So, it's good to get out to different places and be thrown some curveballs.”
The 41st CST fulfilled the requirements and received their certification for another 18 months.
| Date Taken: | 03.07.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 12.10.2024 10:17 |
| Story ID: | 487067 |
| Location: | BOSTON, KENTUCKY, US |
| Web Views: | 27 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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