MANZANARES, Spain (March 16, 2015) -- Members of a joint task force, or JTF, comprised of U.S. Sailors from Task Force 68 at Naval Station Rota, Spain, U.S. Soldiers from the 7th Civil Support Command, or CSC, at Kaiserslautern, Germany, and Vicenza, Italy, and personnel from the U.S. Air Force participated in the Spanish Emergency Military Unit's annual GAMMA Series Exercise DAIMIEL 2015.
The training event focused on humanitarian assistance, foreign consequence management and disaster relief.
The 7th CSC was represented by more than 51 personnel including Soldiers and civilians from the 7th CSC Headquarters and Headquarters Company, the 773rd Civil Support Team, or CST, the 361st Civil Affairs, or CA, Brigade and Medical Support Unit-Europe, or MSU-E.
French Army Warrant Officer Frederic Meresse said it was his first experience working with the Americans and the Spanish Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear, also known as CBRN. Meresse is a Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear analyst and identification specialist from the 1st Battalion of Civil Protection in Nogent Le Rotrou Cedex, France.
The exercise kicked off with a simulated oil plant explosion March 10 that included Hollywood-style pyrotechnics, simulated explosions and wind machines that billowed heavy black smoke, which made the training very realistic.
The following day, the 773rd CST partnered with military members of Spanish and French army CBRN units as a combined sampling team during site assessments.
"I am really excited about it [the experience], eager to learn and cross-train," said Spanish army Pvt. Lorenzo Martin Lorente, CBRN Soldier from Torrejon Air Base near Madrid.
After approximately 20 minutes, the combined team finished sampling the suspected contaminated area.
"It was great," U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Matthew Grande, 773rd CST, 7th CSC said. "We just got a chance to go over things. They were right on it. You couldn't tell there was a language barrier."
French army Capt. Philippe Perret is the operations officer in charge of the 1st Battalion of Civil Protection in Nogent Le Rotrou Cedex, France. While his organization is used to working with other European counterparts, it has not worked with the United States, he said.
"It was a very rich for us," Perret said. "We have to adapt our methodology to understand the different techniques to accomplish the mission. It's always useful. It's easy to work at home. [The] exercise builds trust for future incidents."
Taking care of internally displaced people who lose their homes is another aspect of foreign consequence management response, and some 7th CSC Soldiers were involved in planning for those operations as well.
The 7th CSC's MSU-E and Company A, 457th CA Battalion had Soldiers scattered in different locations around the main incident area of operations. The MSU-E went to local hospitals to evaluate care and FCM response preparedness while the 457th Battalion, CA Soldiers partnered with Spanish army civil military cooperation soldiers to liaison and make assessments for potential individual development plan, or IDP, sites and camps.
"It's been great working with the Spanish army," U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class David Heath, Co. A, 457th CA Battalion said. "It's been an excellent opportunity to share institutional knowledge and work with a partner nation."
The combined team responded to the JTF's requests for information, and in addition to working with local people and community leaders they conducted extensive infrastructure and capability assessments which they communicated back to the Joint Task Force-Foreign Consequence Management, or JTF/FCM at the joint operations center.
"It was excellent learning their point of view," Spanish army civil-military cooperation, or CIMIC, Warrant Officer Angel Peiro Bueno said. "We were strong in liaison, they were strong in assessment and we share with each other the best practices from our strengths."
The information the 457th CA Battalion Soldiers provided was then briefed to the DAIMIEL 2015 exercise director as well as other leaders and distinguished visitors to the FCM training event.
"It's an opportunity to learn about the Navy, to learn about some common ground and interoperability," said U.S. Army Reserve Brig. Gen. Alan M. DeBlieck, commanding general, 7th Civil Support Command.
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