FORT LEE, Va. (Feb. 24, 2011) -- In a mass casualty emergency, the 111th Quartermaster Company would be deployed to recover remains. Part of that responsibility would be to ensure the remains are safe to handle.

"If a 10-kiloton bomb were to go off in the United States, somebody would have to take care of the aftermath - the dead Soldiers and civilians," said Sgt. 1st Class Victor Grantham of the unit, an element of 530th Combat Sustainment Support Battation, 49th QM Group at Fort Lee. "Our mission would be to decontaminate those remains and get them buried in a respectful manner."

Grantham was referring to a scenario that was the basis for an exercise his unit has been conducting the past week at several Fort Lee locations including the Mortuary Affairs Training Site. The exercise included about 48 soldiers who installed the many components of a Mortuary Affairs Decontamination Collection Point.

"We set up the initial site, which is the most difficult part and practiced our procedures," said Grantham.

The training extended to this week as well and is in preparation for a larger exercise that will take place at Camp Atterbury, Ind., in March.

Operation of a MADCP requires Soldiers to wear personal protective equipment and man stations at which they will identify contaminants and decontaminate remains using established procedures.

Sgt. Daniel Smith said the practice is an adequate train-up for the larger exercise.

"I think it is a good training exercise from the aspect of the Soldiers," he said. "It gave them a really detailed understanding of the exact process and the time and effort required to transfer the remains."

The exercise scheduled at Atterbury, called Vibrant Response, is a civil-military exercise that seeks to measure a response during a Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and High-Yield Explosive event.

Grantham said a few hundred military and civilians members will participate in the civil-military exercise at the Indiana National Guard post.

Vibrant Response is one of the largest events on the 111th's training schedule. The unit's primary commitment for the past several years has been its deployment to Southwest Asia in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.