Photo By Staff Sgt. Kelly Carlton | During the 4th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade’s Defense Chemical Biological...... read more read more
By U.S. Army Sgt. Kelly S. Malone
4th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade Public Affairs
FORT LEONARD, Mo. – Training to support local and state agencies in the event of a real world nuclear disaster in one of our nation’s cities is becoming second nature to 4th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade. The 4th MEB functions as Task Force Operations headquarters on the homeland security mission of Defense Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear Response Force and has conducted several exercises with this latest one being held at Fort Steward, Ga., March 3-13, 2014.
Collections of units, known as task forces, supporting the DCRF mission brought soldiers from several states to participate in the 4th MEB training exercise Dauntless Resolve.
“While we’re here we have the opportunity to do a culminating training event where we put all the players together that will meet up in Indiana to conduct Vibrant Response later this year. This training prepares us to do what we need in case we are called upon for the DCRF mission,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Paul King, 83rd Chemical Battalion, a tenant unit at Fort Stewart with its parent unit, 48th Chemical Brigade, out of Fort Hood, Texas.
DCRF falls under Joint Task Force-Civil Support bringing the U.S. Army’s CBRN and the Marines’ Chemical Biological Incident Response Force together for this joint endeavor.
“We worked with CBIRF during last year’s Vibrant Response,” said Master Sgt. Antonio Leonvega, senior enlisted chemical advisor, 4th MEB, 1st Infantry Division. “This exercise allows both teams another opportunity to get some great training and to build on the procedures to continue future operations while we hold this DCRF mission.”
The multi-faceted DCRF team consisted of not only chemical personnel but military police.
As military police, we are a unit that knows how to command and control. We deal with problems everyday and solve those problems. This allows us to be a flexible component to the 4th MEB’s task force operations, said Lt. Col. Jay Chandler, commander, 385th MP Bn., out of Fort Stewart.
Using one’s imagination during an actual large-scale nuclear attack such as the Dauntless Resolve training scenario, mass destruction would be inevitable and that is where the Army Corps of Engineers comes in.
“Our primary mission is urban search and rescue,” said 1st Lt. Peter Yoon, platoon leader, 60th EN Company, 11th Engineer Bn., 20th Engineer Brigade out of Fort Benning, Ga. “Our engineers have a full cache of USR equipment to use during search and extraction operations. We can reach injured people in trenches, under collapsed structures or in wrecked vehicles. We work with the CBRN assets to maintain our safety as well as those we are rescuing.”
The 4th MEB along with their task forces will meet again for another iteration of Vibrant Response in Indiana at the Muscatatuck Urban Training Center.
“We don’t get chance to train for this mission often, so I am glad my soldiers will return home with a better understanding of how to strengthen teamwork across the service and learn each other’s skill sets and maybe even identify weaknesses that all of us can work to improve upon by the time we get to Indiana this summer,” said King.
| Date Taken: | 03.08.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 03.18.2014 12:34 |
| Story ID: | 122169 |
| Location: | FORT LEONARD WOOD, MO, US |
| Web Views: | 253 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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