MUSCATATUCK URBAN TRAINING CENTER, Ind. - The 92nd Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Battalion based out of Decatur, Georgia, is providing forces to conduct reconnaissance, mass casualty decontamination, and urban search and rescue operations in support of civilian authorities during Vibrant Response 2014.
Vibrant Response is a major field training exercise directed by U.S. Northern Command and executed by U.S. Army North. The training takes place yearly at the Muscatatuck Urban Training Center (MUTC), Butlerville, Indiana, and Camp Atterbury, Indiana.
"This operation is going really well. I had a chance to go into the disaster response area today, and it gave me a great respect for what the people on the ground are doing and how much work they are putting into it," said 2nd Lt. George Edward Perez II, assistant operations officer from Atlanta.
Perez said that there is a great benefit to training for real-world disaster response.
"Working with civilians and other government agencies, role playing scenarios, gives these Soldiers the ability to train all day in the chemical suits that are required of a team like this," Perez added.
The 92nd is running CBRN operations at a tactical operations center on forward operating base Panther where they are running operations for several down trace units including: 388th CBRN Company, 704th CBRN Company, 501st Area Support Medical Company, 331st Area Support Medical Company, 493rd Engineer Detachment, 683rd Engineer Detachment, 379th Engineer Detachment, and 659th Engineer Company.
The 493rd firefighters have been on the ground for over a week carrying out various missions related to urban search and rescue.
"We have been doing US&R missions in a hazardous waste environment during VR '14 and being able to employee all of our trailers into one exercise is beneficial training," said Cpl. Jimmy Gregory, firefighter and team leader from Cartersville, Georgia.
"The scenarios were ran well and the MUTC setup made it feel real," added Gregory.
The exercise was created to prepare Department of Defense personnel to deal with any disaster on American soil. VR 14 takes place July 21 through Aug. 7.
U.S. Army North, U.S. Northern Command's Joint Force Land Component Command, expects about 5,500 military and civilian personnel from across the country are participating in this major training exercise simulating the response to a terrorist attack in the United States.
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