Photo By Brad Rhen | Members of the Pennsylvania National Guard’s 3rd Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil...... read more read more
Subscribe
LANDISVILLE, Pa. – Soldiers and Airmen from the Pennsylvania National Guard’s 3rd Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team conducted training Feb. 3 to 7 at the Lancaster County Public Safety Training Center.
After four days of classroom instruction, the team conducted a hands-on exercise on Feb. 7. The scenario for the exercise was investigating a clandestine drug lab found inside a confined space such as a storage unit.
Air Force Maj.
Art Prough, the CST’s deputy commander, said overall, it was a good week of training.
“For some of us who have been doing it for a little bit, it was a great refresher,” Prough said. “We also have some new folks, and it was good for them to see some things they haven’t seen before. And, working with our civilian first responders is always a good thing to maintain those relationships.”
The classroom training consisted of two days of small-scale biological warfare agents classes and then two days of pharmaceutical based agents classes.
The drug-lab scenario is a type of incident the CST could realistically get called out for, said Army Staff Sgt. Kyle Clark, a chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear team chief. However, Clark said he and the other team member who investigated the lab during the exercise didn’t know what they were walking into.
“There’s not a lot of knowns,” he said. “There were a few clues here and there, but ultimately it’s our job to go in there and put pieces of the puzzle together and paint that picture for the guys out in the [tactical operations center].”
During the exercise, Clark’s partner simulated exposure to a toxic substance in the room they were inspecting and required medical attention. Other CST members had to help drag him out on a sled, decontaminate him, remove his protective suit and try to determine the cause of his medical emergency.
That is something that could potentially happen during a real-world incident so it’s necessary to train on it, Clark said.
“The man down part is just as important as going in there and finding out what you’re dealing with because at the end of the day, keeping everybody safe is the end goal,” Clark said.
The CST is a highly specialized 22-member unit that responds to incidents involving chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear high-yield explosives. Its members come from both the Pennsylvania Army and Air National Guards.
The team is required to conduct at least eight training exercises a year, Prough said.
“We do training like this throughout the year, multiple times, to maintain our skills,” Prough said.
The exercise on Feb. 7 was a train-up for an upcoming evaluation with evaluators from U.S. Army North.
“We’re going through all of the steps in preparation for that training evaluation,” Prough said. “Every year we do what they call a CLT, collective lanes training, which is in preparation for our EXEVAL, which is an external evaluation with ARNORTH. That is a certification saying yes, we can or can’t do our skills.”
A unique aspect to the Feb. 7 exercise was the presence of CBRN specialists from Pennsylvania’s State Partnership Program partner Lithuania, who were on hand to observe the training.
Clark said he and the other team members were “amped up” to do well because their Lithuanian partners were watching.
“We’re always amped up to do well, but there was maybe a little bit more pressure,” Clark said.
| Date Taken: | 02.13.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 02.13.2025 10:38 |
| Story ID: | 490723 |
| Location: | LANDISVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA, US |
| Web Views: | 103 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Pa. Guard Civil Support Team conducts simulated drug lab training, by Brad Rhen, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
