Airmen tackle CBRN threat response training in WV tunnel Published July 21, 2011 By Tech. Sgt. Benjamin Rojek Defense Media Activity STANDARD, W.V. -- The Center for National Response is hosting the Air Force Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Response Challenge here July 18-22. Ten bioenvironmental and emergency management teams representing nine Air Force major commands and the Air National Guard will spend the week facing a series of challenges meant to test their skills in detecting and neutralizing CBRN threats. Started as a challenge for U.S. Air Forces Europe bioenvironmental specialists in 2005 at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, the challenge expanded to the entire Air Force bioenvironmental and emergency management career fields in 2006. The Air Force challenge was initially hosted by the School of Aerospace Medicine at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas. By 2010, however, event leaders learned of the CNR and its CBRN training capabilities and moved the challenge location. "This installation is able to provide realistic scenarios," said Maj. Robert Schmidt Goessling, the cadre lead for the challenge. "Most installations are not able to provide realistic scenarios where they're using live agents, live material, to where they get real responses on the equipment." Seven of the eight scenarios take place within the CNR's 2,800-foot-long Memorial Tunnel. This multi-purpose facility, which was once a highway tunnel, is outfitted to provide training in everything from counterterrorism to weapons of mass destruction consequence management. One scenario for this exercise is a simulated nighttime operation at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., in which team members must deduce what chemical or biological agents are present in a base house. Besides the materials the participants are expected to find, the scenario is set up with the littlest details in mind, including discarded beverage cans and broken furniture. Other scenarios even include actual wrecked vehicles and a subway car. The level of realism the scenarios provide are thanks to the efforts of both the CNR team, as well as the cadre members, said Master Sgt. LaDonna Scheurer, an event lead. The cadre met in December to begin planning scenarios and by May had sent their requirements to CNR. From there, CNR procured or created all of the requested material, from a tanker truck to pesticides to identifying documents. They even grow biological agents for use in certain scenarios. "We try to come up with all of these questions (the participants) would ask," said Tech. Sgt. Jennifer Yang, a cadre member at the challenge. "For instance, what is the weather? What was the suspicious activity? We even have the name of the suspect and background information and him." The reason for all of this hard work is to prepare the participants for what they may actually face in the field, as well as to ensure they remain vigilant during their sweeps, Schmidt Goessling said. Most exercises and training involves only injects, which is usually just a written statement about what the exercise participant will see. Unfortunately, this means participants are usually watching their inspector for the next bit of information, instead of focusing on the task at hand. "This teaches them to actually pay attention to what they are doing," said Schmidt Goessling, who is from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, where the School of Aerospace Medicine is now located. "It puts that stress on you so that way, when you're in a real event, you don't mess up. "With homeland security and homeland defense ... we need these skill sets when something does hit the fan," he continued. "These skill sets, if you don't practice, they deteriorate. I can train on every piece of equipment, I can train on every procedure, but if I don't routinely practice those skills, I'm going to lose them." Another benefit of the training is continuing a cohesive working relationship between the bioenvironmental and emergency management teams. Having both career fields working and training together ensures a smooth operating environment in which both parties speak the same language and understand the other's capabilities, said Chief Master Sgt. Claudette Watler-Hall, the functional manager for the emergency management career field. "At the installation level, the teams train together already and they do exercises together," Watler-Hall said. "Bringing them here helps us to validate some of the tactics, techniques and procedures that we're teaching them." The event will culminate in an awards banquet July 22, during which MAJCOM teams and team members will receive trophies for their accomplishments.