ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL, ILL -- (Oct. 22, 2013) Imagine walking into a room and smelling rotting fruit, then your nose starts to run, you feel lightheaded and have difficulty breathing. If this was a fruit compost area, it may not be a concern, but if this was your office at work or a public building this could be a sign that you have been exposed to a chemical or biological agent.
Civilian authorities have multiple tools at their disposal, but if they are unsure or feel they need more help, they call their local Weapons of Mass Destruction-Civil Support Team. The 51st WMD-CST, Michigan National Guard, Fort Custer, Mich., is one of these teams.
The teams deploy by land or air to provide no-cost support to civil authorities at a potential or actual domestic chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive incident. They accomplish this by identifying CBRNE agents and substances, assessing current and projected consequences, advising on response measures, and assisting with appropriate requests for additional state or federal support.
These teams do not come into existence overnight; they go through a rigorous process of training and evaluation to ensure they are ready for any contingency. The training and standards are set and conducted by Army North (Fifth U.S. Army).
"Army North's mission under Northern Command, is to provide training mission oversight for homeland defense and homeland security operations within the homeland," said Derrick Johnson, operations analyst Southeast division Civil Support Readiness Group-East, Civil Support Training Activity, Army North.
Army North executes the Department of Defense's homeland defense and civil support operations in the land domain, according to its website. It further develops, organizes and integrates the DOD CBRNE response capabilities and operations. Army North is based out of Fort Sam Houston, Texas.
"I belong to an agency in-between my division and the Army called the Civil Support Training Activity out of Fort Sam Houston and we provide civil support training for 57 of these teams across the country," said Jay Norris, Midwest division chief, Army North. "Every state has one and several states have two teams; New York, California and Florida have two of these teams due to the size of the states and the number of people they support."
"Our particular mission here within CSRG-East, by the way we are stationed here at Rock Island Arsenal (Ill.), comprises three divisions, Southeast division, Midwest division, who is out here today, and the Northeast division, " Johnson said. "The geographical divisions are based on their geographical layouts."
The mission in that area of responsibility is to provide training, readiness and oversight to specialized teams within the National Guard Bureau, Johnson explained.
"We are a hazardous materials team, an Army and Air Force hazmat team," said Lt. Col. Timothy B. Densham, 51st WMD-CST commander. "Additionally, we have a mobile laboratory with microscopes and chromatography and additional laboratory capabilities. We can send it just about anywhere, it is on wheels. "
We also have a mobile communication suite, allowing us to talk to local responders in a wide variety of frequencies, satellite, Internet, and secure communications if needed, he added.
"Everyone has a different job and there is a wide range of capabilities," Densham said.
A two month school makes team members hazmat technician certified, that is just the beginning of our training. Our medical and communication folks are in school all year long. It keeps them busy and keeps them sharp, that is what we want, Densham explained.
According to Norris, the WMD-CSTs do a validation of their skills every 18 months, and a lane training exercise, annually. The lane training is similar to the validation exercise, but the scores only go to the unit. The commander uses those scores to shape his training, work on the team?'s shortcomings or build on its strengths.
"The report from this week's training exercise will go to the NORTHCOM commander and chief of the National Guard Bureau, so they will know the status of that unit in that state from which they are from," Norris said.
"Because of the type of mission it is, it is a requirement to be evaluated every 18 months to make sure we can do our mission, our tactical mission, so this is what today is, our evaluation," Densham said. "We received a call in the morning that there was an event that occurred at the (Rock Island) Arsenal, there was some suspicious behavior going on and someone had run away from the building. The guard had gone in there and found a lab with someone working on who knows what. Unfortunately, the security guard that found it ended up getting sick. So that is what kind of clued us, the authorities that there is something going on."
At this point, we are working with the locals, fire, incident commander and the police. What we are going to do in the meantime is hopefully, using our laboratory, sensors and skillset tell exactly what we are up against, so the incident commander knows as fast as he can, Norris added.
"Typically a training assessment can go anywhere from 12-16 hours depending upon what we prepared for a unit, their level of proficiency in performing their task as they encounter their obstacles and run their paces," Johnson said. "What we do is provide training readiness and oversight, we evaluate whether these teams can do their jobs, and if they can sustain a high level of proficiency."
According to the Joint Task Force Civil Support 101 brief, WMD-CSTs are the initial CBRNE response at the state level. The teams are designed to deploy in three hours or less. They are the first of three elements the states can call upon unless they request federal assets.
"All 57 teams are basically built the same," Norris said. "The 51st CST has a brochure; they give it out to local emergency services in Michigan that may have to call the team. It is designed to help people understand what the CST can and cannot do. There is a limit of what they can do, they will not go out and assume command of a situation. By law, they have to work for the local incident commander."
The Weapons of Mass Destruction-Civil Support Team Operations field manual 3-11.22 describes WMD-CSTs as the "state governors?' 911 forces for WMD. " They provide direct support to the front lines of local, state, and federal emergency response organizations. WMD-CST operations are conducted primarily in civil environments--urban, rural, industrial, or suburban areas and in hot or cold weather.
"We are here to assist the civilian authorities and make them make the best decisions they can," Densham said. "We work and train constantly with local first responders so we can provide a backup for them if they ever need us. We want to go out there and give really good analysis to the incident commander so he can make decisions right off the bat."
WMD-CSTs are assigned to the state and operationally committed to an incident by the military chain of command. At the incident site, it operates in direct support of civil authorities.
In this role, the WMD-CST supports the goals and objectives developed by the incident commander in the incident action plan.
They provide state and local municipalities with a specialized and highly trained unit that can respond, analyze, advise and assist incidents that may involve illicit use of weapons of mass destruction agents, Johnson explained.
"We are there for backup for them, and hopefully we never get called for the worst case scenario, but if it does happen we are prepared for it," Densham said.
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