HOHENFELS, Germany -- Poor little Gloria. Not even a year old, Gloria is a pig who has been set up for failure.
She's the center of an experiment during Exercise Allied Spirit IV, and ironically, her abandoned "carcass" found in the snow is predictably the sign of good things to come.
In this multinational exercise held over three weeks in January and February, here, Gloria is exposed to rain and snow. She's left alone in a field or maybe on a road. If discovered, she's a hero.
Gloria is the product of the U.S. Army's Joint Multinational Readiness Center (JMRC) and the creative minds in the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command (Army Research Laboratory), says Eric Heilman, science advisor for the 7th Army Joint Multinational Training Command, U.S. Army Europe.
She's an electronic, mechanical training device that can squeal, stink and regurgitate to simulate an animal that has been exposed to chemical agents, Heilman said. Her skin is even life-like, and her weight requires a two-man carry.
Gloria is a porcine prototype.
"The current 'stuffed animals' looked like some sort of goat-sheep thing. We really couldn't tell," Heilman said of simulated animals used in training exercises. "We thought of something well outside of those animals, so the pig was born."
He added that a cow would have been more expensive and too large.
"Gloria is a two-person lift as it is," he said.
Gloria is used in exercises as an indicator of a simulated chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or explosive (CBRN-E) attacks. Her caretakers place Gloria in a designated CBRN-E area before troops arrive. If troops spot her carcass on the battlefield, they should react as if they are in a possibly contaminated area, Heilman explained.
Affected wildlife is one of several signs of a potential CBRN-E site. In Allied Spirit, troops are coached and mentored on their responses to these indicators.
"It's a very important training aid," said Sgt. 1st Class Troy C. Mueller, JMRC observer, coach, trainer (OCT) assigned to tracking Gloria's whereabouts. "The device is an indicator of a CBRN-E attack. Soldiers set up their plans once she's spotted."
"I hope the main thing Soldiers will note is that CBRN-E events are not characterized just by events that are kinetic, like the bursting of chemical rounds and the clouds of gas they produce," Heilman added. "The evidence found after the initial attack is a warning that the agents may still be active. They should be addressed with as much caution and action as the initial strike."
When the pig prop rolled out of the U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical and Biological Center fabrication lab, she was a $20,000-prototype called Gloria, Heilman noted. Gloria is so advanced, some common aerosol sprays can trigger her heinous smell.
"If a (household mosquito repellant) is applied to the outside of the pig, it will turn the testing paper a color that indicates a chemical attack," Heilman explained.
Gloria has debuted in various situational training exercises during Allied Spirit.
"Gloria is a prototype, the only one of her kind right now," Heilman said. "What we are looking to understand is her training value under field conditions."
Heilman credits a former JMRC OCT -- Staff Sgt. Troy Casares -- for the creation of Gloria as a realistic training aid. Now, she's a centerpiece of a multinational training banquet.
"If successful here, the device will be presented for adoption as a product for use at all training centers," said Heilman. "If a unit encounters an animal kill, they should treat it as suspicious, adopt a higher level of caution and get assets in place to see if the animal was killed by something like CBRN-E."
Heliman added, "If we could have four to six of these laying there, that would be a much more polarizing event."
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