Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Katherine Dowd | The 731st Transportation Company, Great Bend, Kan., Army Reserves, has two groups...... read more read more
CAMP ATTERBURY, Ind. — Nearly 9,000 soldiers, Marines, airmen, sailors and Department of Defense civilians will descend on central Indiana, July 24-Aug 13, to exercise Department of Defense’s ability to respond effectively to a catastrophic nuclear disaster in the homeland.
The Army National Guard 731st Transportation Company of Great Bend, Kan., will be an integral part of this exercise and scenario during Vibrant Response 13, the largest DoD exercise of this type to date.
“The 731st is providing line haul transportation assets to the 167th Theater Sustainment Command in support of Vibrant Response 13,” said Cpt. Jay Simecka, company commander, 731st Trans. Company.
Line haul transportation support units provide the means of transporting equipment, food, water, ice and other supplies to and from warehouses, distribution points, forward operating bases and other areas in support of the mission.
Vibrant Response 13 is a national-level field training exercise (or command post exercise) for the Department of Defense’s Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear response enterprise. Led by U.S. Army North based at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, the training event is intended to exercise the ability to deploy, employ and sustain specialized military response forces upon the request of civilian authorities to save lives and relieve human suffering following a catastrophic CBRN incident.
The exercise will take place at various locations in Indiana, including the Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center and Muscatatuck Urban Training Complex, as well as at Fort Knox, Ky. The exercise features realistic venues, fire and smoke effects, mannequins and civilian role-players to simulate a demanding disaster environment.
Units from more than 40 locations throughout the United States will be participating, including U.S. Army North and Task Force 51, Fort Sam Houston, Texas; Joint Task Force – Civil Support, Fort Eustis, Va.; 31st Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Brigade, Alabama National Guard, Northport, Ala.
Federal military forces may be employed if requested by a state and approved by the federal government. These specialized response forces include the 5,200-person defense CBRN response force, which has the initial response capability to provide search and rescue, decontamination, medical, aviation, communications and logistical support.
Two smaller specialized federal military forces of 1,500 personnel each are designed to provide an initial response and accept additional forces to save and sustain lives. The event marks the first confirmation exercise for the third response force. The force consists of National Guard units that would be federalized if called upon for a catastrophic response.
The three federal military forces are part of DoD’s tiered CBRN response structure that provides the nation with a dedicated, trained, ready, and scalable response capability. The tiered response structure also includes state-based civil support teams and regionally based CBRN enhanced response force packages and homeland response forces. A number of these units will participate in the exercise, as will teams from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Technical Nuclear Forensics Task Force.
The Department of Defense has long had the mission of supporting civilian agencies in responding to disasters. The Department of Homeland Security has developed a series of national planning scenarios for a variety of hazards that provide a baseline of assumptions to be used by agencies at all levels to develop and assess their readiness and response plans. The Vibrant Response scenario is based on one of those national planning scenarios.
“The Soldiers are training on exactly what our mission would be in a deployed environment,” said 1st Sgt. Tim McClure, first sergeant for the 731st Trans. Company. “Our job is transporting supplies out to disaster areas. This is a real-world training mission.”
Media Advisory: Media who desire to do interviews with people during the exercise via DoD satellite availability should contact Sgt. Katherine Dowd, 167th Theater Sustainment Command Public Affairs Office, 205-427-8169, Katherine.w.dowd@us.army.mil or Don Manuszewski, 210-482-9303, Donald.e.manuszewski.civ@mail.mil.
| Date Taken: | 07.26.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 08.06.2012 18:11 |
| Story ID: | 92744 |
| Location: | CAMP ATTERBURY, INDIANA, US |
| Hometown: | GREAT BEND, KANSAS, US |
| Hometown: | LIBERAL, KANSAS, US |
| Web Views: | 65 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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