Published: August 28, 2011
First Hoosier CERFP Performs External Evaluation At Atterbury
By Staff Sgt. Matt Scotten, Camp Atterbury Public Affairs
Indiana's Chemical, Biological, Radiological/Nuclear, and Explosive (CBRNE) - Enhanced Response Force Package (CERFP) is taking steps to obtain its national certification this week at Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center.
Soldiers and Airmen have been training all week on skills such as search and extraction and nuclear decontamination. According to Capt. Stacy Kennedy-Barker, operations officer for the Indiana CERFP, the unit will be a valuable asset to the state.
"This will be the only one in Indiana," said Kennedy-Barker. "We will be able to bridge the gap between civilian response forces and federal response forces." Since there has never been an Indiana CERFP before, Soldiers and Airmen in the CERFP have had to train hard to learn new skills and how to use new equipment.
Pfc. Paul Carter (right), from Terre Haute, Ind., and Staff Sgt. Christopher Dearing, of Francisco, Ind., both from Indiana's Chemical, Biological, Radiological/Nuclear, and Explosive (CBRNE) - Enhanced Response Force Package (CERFP), inventory their gear during morning mission preparation at Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center.
Photo: Maj. Lisa Kopczynski, Camp Atterbury Public Affairs) |
"We're going to be ready," said Sgt. Maria Almodovar, Mooresville, Ind. native and noncommissioned officer in charge of the undress tent within the decontamination element of the CERFP. "We have been training for months for this and every day we still learn something new and figure out how to do it better."
Kennedy-Barker said she was proud of the job her Guardsmen have done to overcome the inherent challenges of the task.
"Indiana is lucky to have the team that it does," said Kennedy-Barker. "This isn't a typical military mission that these guys are doing, and I am extremely proud to be a part of it."
Although CERFPs are not an entirely new concept, this is the first one to call Indiana home. A CERFP is composed of four elements staffed by personnel from already established National Guard units. The elements are search and extraction, decontamination, medical, and command and control.
Spc. Holly Horned and Spc. Brenton Lloyd, both Terre Haute natives and chemical specialists with the Indiana Chemical, Biological, Radiological/Nuclear, and Explosive (CBRNE) - Enhanced Response Force Package (CERFP), decontaminate simulated victims of a nuclear blast.
Photo: Staff Sgt. Matt Scotten, Camp Atterbury Public Affairs)
|
The CERFP elements are comprised of traditional National Guard (M-Day) Soldiers and Airmen (supported by a small staff of full time Guardsmen in Title 32 status) who are trained and equipped to integrate into the National Incident Management System to plan and conduct casualty search and extraction, medical triage and treatment, ambulatory and non-ambulatory decontamination, and fatality search and recovery. When directed, the National Guard CERFP can be pre-positioned or respond using local units' transportation during an incident to support the incident commander.
Kennedy-Barker said she feels performing the external evaluation at Camp Atterbury has helped her team meet its training goals.
"The support we have received from Camp Atterbury has been excellent. The training packages they helped us with, as well as the training facilities here have all helped us a great deal," Kennedy Barker said. "I don't know that our training here could have been better."
By the week's end, the CERFP will be finished with its external evaluation and if all criteria are met in accordance with federal standards they will receive their official certification, adding yet another impressive homeland security asset to the Indiana National Guard.
Sgt. Mallory Wilson, a South Bend, Ind. native and medic with Indiana's Chemical, Biological, Radiological/Nuclear, and Explosive (CBRNE) - Enhanced Response Force Package (CERFP), offers medical care and encouragement to a simulated victim of a nuclear blast.
Photo: Staff Sgt. Matt Scotten, Camp Atterbury Public Affairs |
After contamination alarms go off, Soldiers and Airmen from Indiana's Chemical, Biological, Radiological/Nuclear, and Explosive (CBRNE) - Enhanced Response Force Package (CERFP) rush to don their gas masks.
Photo: Staff Sgt. Matt Scotten, Camp Atterbury Public Affairs |
Soldiers from Indiana's Chemical, Biological, Radiological/Nuclear, and Explosive (CBRNE) - Enhanced Response Force Package (CERFP) move in to aid a simulated victim of a nuclear blast.
Photo: Staff Sgt. Matt Scotten, Camp Atterbury Public Affairs |
Soldiers from Indiana's Chemical, Biological, Radiological/Nuclear, and Explosive (CBRNE) - Enhanced Response Force Package (CERFP) search through rubble for casualties of a simulated nuclear explosion.
Photo: Staff Sgt. Matt Scotten, Camp Atterbury Public Affairs |
Search News
