Courtesy Photo | Vantroi SibiliaMartinez, Navy medical chief, assigned to the Incident Response Force...... read more read more
Sgt. Nazly Confesor
CAMP ATTERBURY, Ind. - In the fallout of a nuclear attack, professionally trained personnel are needed to go into a disaster site and save lives.
Over 120 active duty Marines and sailors assigned to the Chemical Biological Incident Response Force from Indian Head, Md., took part in Vibrant Response 11.1, a field training exercise, conducted from March 11-19 in North Vernon, Ind. The exercise was designed to train military forces to respond to a nuclear “dirty bomb” detonated on U.S. soil, creating displaced civilians, wreckage and overall disorder in its aftermath.
During Vibrant Response 11.1, CBIRF along with other military forces came together to support and comprise Joint Task Force Civil Support. JTF-CS, headquartered at Fort Monroe, Va., is an integral part of our nation’s ability to recover from any catastrophic nuclear incident. Its purpose is to assist local, state and federal agencies during recovery missions.
One of the first responders to such catastrophic events is CBIRF - an active duty component within the United States Marine Corps and organized to respond on short notice to a chemical, biological, nuclear, radiological, or high-yield explosive effects, that occur within U.S. soil or worldwide. In the event of a CBRNE incident, CBIRF’s Assessment Team and Initial Response Force deploy immediately to help contain the catastrophe. CBIRF is capable of responding by land, sea or air.
“We are that rapid extraction force, the first people to go out the door to help turn the tide and save lives,” said Maj. Mike Johnson of Allentown, Pa., the mission and operations commander of the CBIRF and Initial Response Force.
Currently, there are two teams broken down within CBRIF: Alpha and Bravo Team Initial Response Forces, both are based out of Indian Head, Md. During Vibrant Response 11.1, the capabilities of Bravo Team were put to the test to train for real world scenarios.
“Every 60 days, these Marines go through a certification exercise that is signed off by the commanding officer of CBIRF to make sure they are ready to go,” said Johnson.
After 24 hours, the commander briefed the Marines; they prepared their gear and made sure they had all necessary equipment to complete their mission during the exercise.
“When we get called to an incident, our job is to set up and immediately go in to detect if there is any contamination,” said Cpl. John Michaud, an assistant identification platoon team leader from Indian Head, Md., “We have to make sure it’s safe for people down there.”
The Muscatatuck Urban Training Center, near North Vernon, Ind., served as the disaster site for Bravo IRF. Ravaged by a simulated dirty bomb,” Marines encountered hundreds of local civilians within the 1,000 acre complex that features more than 120 training structures such as a “pancaked” car garage. Contracted role-players realistically take on the roles of displaced survivors, complete with artificial physical and mental wounds that would likely be encountered in the event of catastrophe of this type.
As Bravo IRF arrived at “ground zero,” each specialty team was given specific mission assignments. Although each team is different, the main focus of each one of them is the same: to ensure safety within the civilian population and themselves.
Bravo IRF has the capabilities for agent detection and identification, casualty search and extraction, technical rescue, personal decontamination, emergency medical care, and stabilization of contaminated displaced citizens at the disaster site.
With little sleep, each team focused on their mission assignments, whether it was drilling in the rubble to rescue a casualty or examining displaced citizens with a Point Detection Radiation 77 device. This device conducts gamma radiation detection through a person’s body and monitors their health status.
Lance Cpl. Cordero Fruster, a member of the extraction team during Vibrant Response, and native of Fort. Lauderdale, Fla., said this exercise challenged him as both a Marine and an extractor.
“It’s a very hard job,” Fruster said. “You can be put into tight situations with having to crawl into tunnels and rubble while having to keep the possible casualty safe at all times.”
Fruster said the morale of the unit is high and he’s excited to take part in training with so many people.
“I actually love it out here and it’s my first operation going out with the CBIRF so it’s been a different experience for me with something like this,” Fruster said.
Whether it is training such as Vibrant Response 11.1 or a real life crisis, the Marines of CBRIF stand ready to respond with a clear mission: Go out and save whom you can, wherever you can.
| Date Taken: | 03.11.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 04.02.2011 13:20 |
| Story ID: | 68162 |
| Location: | CAMP ATTERBURY, INDIANA, US |
| Web Views: | 312 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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