Airmen play in national exercise

  • Published
  • By Capt. Kelly Cahalan
  • Air Warfare Center Public Affairs
NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. (AFPN) --  Operations, logistics and medical experts here continue to assist state and federal agencies in a simulated nation-wide battle against the pneumonic plague, wildfires and bad weather, which began Aug. 18.

The exercise, Determined Promise ‘03, was designed to test U.S. Northern Command’s organizational structure and the military assistance to civil authorities mission.

The main focus of the exercise, which ends Aug. 28, is a simulated bio-terrorism event in Clark County, encompassing Las Vegas and Nellis Air Force Base. The exercise began with local county authorities dealing with an outbreak of pneumonic plague.

Other disaster areas in the national exercise include fires throughout the Western states and a hurricane in the Southeast.

On the first day of the exercise, the base received a stockpile of medical assets. A team from the 99th Medical Group helped the team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention break down the stockpile for distribution to various locations around the state.

“Typically, and depending on location, the stockpile is … handled by a private company. Given the location and scenario, this exercise is providing us with a great opportunity to train with other state and federal agencies,” said Lt. Col. Mark Deysher, 99th Medical Operations Squadron specialty flight commander here.

Once the stockpile was shipped from the base, the exercise focus shifted to Naval Air Station Fallon and the Clark County Fairgrounds in Logandale, Nev. National Guard units from Nevada and Arizona, state, county and city officials will respond to a simulated terrorist laboratory and dispense medication.

The exercise is a great opportunity for the various agencies to test internal procedures, but more importantly works to interact on processes and communications among the different agencies, said Bob Jones, Nellis AFB exercise coordinator.

“We’re strengthening our own processes through training opportunities we wouldn’t normally have -- a chance to (fine-tune) some of our existing emergency (checklists),” he said.