Photo By Spc. Jonathan Wood | Spc. Ethan Hayes of the 31st Chemical Brigade from Tuscaloosa, Ala. installs cable...... read more read more
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CAMP ATTERBURY, Ind. - The importance of communication cannot be over-stated, especially in matters of life and death. An Alabama Army National Guard unit knows this well and is currently honing its skills in an exercise effort at Camp Atterbury, Ind.
The 31st Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Brigade from Tuscaloosa, Ala., also known as Task Force Guardian, was among the first responders in preparing exercise rescue efforts for the people of a major Midwestern city. Its simulated mission was to promptly plan, organize, install and maintain all communications mediums among the massive joint task organization. This would be an absolute requirement to effectively restore safety and order to the affected areas.
In the event of a real catastrophic incident, the unit will have the high stakes task of supplying radio, satellite, broadband and telephone communications to nearly 1500 Soldiers in an immediate command post and an even greater number of field responders, such as law enforcement, paramedic and other incident liaisons.
The 31st Assistant IT and Automation Officer, Capt. Jeremy Goldsmith, was a part of the advance party making the 16-hour trip to Camp Atterbury, the exercise Incident Command Post. “We will make sure the commander has the best quality communication possible to support the people,” said Goldsmith.
According to Goldsmith, much of the unit’s readiness can be attributed to experiences learned from large-scale search and rescue efforts in the past. Most recently, the 31st was instrumental in the response to the historic tornado outbreak in Alabama of April 2011. Goldsmith views the challenges in this simulated incident to be very similar, “We’ve got to be able to bridge the communication gap between local and national responders,” he noted.
“We bring most all the necessary equipment with us: networking equipment, cables or whatever the commander needs,” said Goldsmith. “Whatever the commander needs to help restore order and save lives.”
The 31st is participating in Exercise Vibrant Response 13. Exercise Vibrant Response is a training event for the Defense Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Response Force. The exercise focuses on Department of Defense support of civil authorities in a consequence management role. The DCRF is part of DoD’s scalable response capability to assist civilian responders in saving lives, relieving human suffering providing critical support to enable support to assist community recovery following a catastrophic CBRN incident.
| Date Taken: | 08.08.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 08.08.2012 16:59 |
| Story ID: | 92868 |
| Location: | CAMP ATTERBURY, INDIANA, US |
| Web Views: | 182 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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