Indiana Army National Guard Spc. Jeff Anspach, left, and Spc. Dylan Morris reconnaissance team members with the 81st Troop Command's emergency response unit search and rescue element, guide a casualty from the incident site during a training exerc... VIEW ORIGINAL
CAMP ATTERBURY, Ind. (Army News Service, Aug. 26, 2011) -- Cries, moans and screams broke loudly through the piles of concrete rubble scattered in chunks.
People's faces and limbs were bloody. They were in shock, or at least acted as if they were. They needed immediate medical help. That's where Spc. Dylan Morris comes in.
Morris with the 1313th Engineer Company serves as a heavy equipment operator and reconnaissance team leader with the search and extraction element of the 81st Troop Command's emergency response unit that was training for validation here.
The unit, known as the 19th CERFP or Chemical, Biological, Nuclear, Radiological and high-yield Explosive Enhanced Response Force Package, helps first responders during stateside catastrophes.
"They're the backbone pretty much. If they don't get the victims out and to the decon line and to medical, they're pretty much stuck down here on the pile," said Sgt. Timothy Pumphrey, a Joint Interagency Training and Education Center observer controller trainer.
The 65-person search and extraction element searched for and extracted casualties. The search part of that element is the reconnaissance team.
"Our job is extremely important," said Spc. Derek Thrasher, a reconnaissance team member. "Our team allows other teams to go in and do their job. We have to provide the information other teams need."
The reconnaissance team members identified building entry points, hazards and casualties, said Thrasher. The team also guided ambulatory casualties away from the incident site.
"Our main mission objective is to get people out and mitigate human suffering," said Thrasher, who is also a 1313th Engineer Company heavy equipment operator.
While mitigating human suffering, the search and extraction members wore chemical suits that keep hazardous airborne particles out, and sweat and body heat in. During the training Wednesday, Thrasher and two of his teammates each lost four pounds in the approximately 40 minutes they were in the suits.
"It's crazy. I've never lost four pounds in that amount of time," said Spc. Jeff Anspach, a teammate of Thrasher and a former wrestler.
(Staff Sgt. Jeff Lowry serves with the 120th Public Affairs Detachment.)
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