CAMP ATTERBURY, Ind. -- Nearly 9,000 Soldiers, Marines, airmen and Department of Defense civilians have descended on central Indiana for an exercise taking place July 24 to Aug. 13 to test DoD's ability to respond effectively to a catastrophic nuclear disaster in the homeland.
The 620th Movement Control Team of Fort Drum serves as an integral part of this exercise and scenario during Vibrant Response 13, the largest DoD exercise of this type to date.
"Our main function is to track and control movement operations for containers, trailers and other equipment in support of the exercise Vibrant Response 13," said Capt. Christopher Busse, 620th MCT officer in charge. "This is our first time working with the Army National Guard and the Army Reserve on a training mission such as this one. This is a great learning experience for everyone to work together and build strong working relationships."
Vibrant Response 13 is a national-level field training exercise (or command post exercise) for the Department of Defense's Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear response enterprise. Led by U.S. Army North based at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, the training event is intended to exercise the ability to deploy, employ and sustain specialized military response forces upon the request of civilian authorities to save lives and relieve human suffering following a catastrophic CBRN incident.
The exercise is taking place at various locations in Indiana, including the Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center and Muscatatuck Urban Training Complex, as well as at Fort Knox, Ky. It features realistic venues, fire and smoke effects, mannequins and civilian role-players to simulate a demanding disaster environment.
Units from more than 40 locations throughout the United States are participating, including U.S. Army North and Task Force 51, Fort Sam Houston, Texas; Joint Task Force -- Civil Support, Fort Eustis, Va., and the 31st Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Brigade, Alabama National Guard from Northport, Ala.
Federal military forces may be employed if requested by a state and approved by the federal government. These specialized response forces include the 5,200-person defense CBRN response force, which has the initial response capability to provide search and rescue, decontamination, medical, aviation, communications and logistical support.
Two smaller specialized federal military forces of 1,500 personnel each are designed to provide an initial response and accept additional forces to save and sustain lives. The event marks the first confirmation exercise for the third response force. The force consists of National Guard units that would be federalized if called upon for a catastrophic response.
The three federal military forces are part of DoD's tiered CBRN response structure that provides the nation with a dedicated, trained, ready, scalable and tailored response capability. The tiered response structure also includes state-based civil support teams and regionally based CBRN enhanced response force packages and homeland response forces. A number of these units are participating in the exercise, as are teams from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Technical Nuclear Forensics Task Force.
The Department of Defense has long had the mission of supporting civilian agencies in responding to disasters. The Department of Homeland Security has developed a series of national planning scenarios for a variety of hazards that provide a baseline of assumptions to be used by agencies at all levels to develop and assess their readiness and response plans.
The Vibrant Response scenario is based on one of those national planning scenarios.
Staff Sgt. Erick Ramirez, movement supervisor for 620th MCT, said that during the exercise, the Soldiers of the unit ensure timely movements for all equipment they are tracking and they make sure that the correct units pick up the equipment.
"It's a great learning experience for our Soldiers," Ramirez said.
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