AMSTERDAM, N.Y. -– Twenty-two Airmen and Soldiers of the New York National Guard’s 2nd Civil Support Team sharpened their skills finding weapons of mass destruction inside a six-story warehouse Feb. 25.
During the training event in a former glove-making factory, teams of two used detection equipment to find and mitigate chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or explosive substances.
Finding new and unique training sites is critical to successful training, said Army 1st Sgt. Brendan Dunfee with the 2nd CST.
“It’s very important,” Dunfee said. “That’s one of our biggest obstacles is finding venues to train so we can build those relationships with community members and welcome them into our footprint and invite them to check out what we’re doing.”
A CST is available at any time to respond to situations involving weapons of mass destruction or hazardous materials. The team provides specialized skills to first responders and local agencies on request.
“We provide an asset to an incident commander and to support civil authorities,” Dunfee said. “We would basically show up on scene after being requested, come in, tell the incident commander what we have available whether it be our mobile lab or reconnaissance teams, operations, medical facilities, and be available to be used however the incident commander wants to inject us.”
The 2nd and 24th Civil Support Teams serve all of New York State. The 2nd CST's covers central, upstate and western New York, while the 24th handles downstate, including New York City.
Airmen and Soldiers in the units are trained for as long as two years, Dunfee said.
“Today we were called by local police for the city of Amsterdam and their fire department after they responded to an incident where there were some nefarious things reported by neighbors,” Dunfee said about the exercise scenario at the warehouse.
“The law enforcement made entry and went upstairs, touched some things and smelled some things and got some signs and symptoms and they basically put themselves in the hospital,” Dunfee explained. “Based on those signs and symptoms, the fire department determined what they were dealing with was beyond their capabilities.”
Members of the unit base their training around scenarios such as this, as it dictates what personnel and equipment will be employed. This scenario is part of overall training to prepare the 2nd CST for an evaluation they go through every 18 months.
“That basically certifies us as a response team and this is part of our cycle to get ready for that,” Dunfee said.
The team uses equipment that many local agencies do not have, such as a mobile lab that allows members to analyze and identify chemicals and substances on location.
“All of the information we provide to the incident commander is basically a full package,” Dunfee said. “Everything from our pictures, our analytical instruments, our reports and everything we write up we give that back to the incident commander as part of what he needs to close out an incident.”
In this training event, the 2nd CST discovered a simulated blister agent lab and a stash of radioactive material hidden in the warehouse. The team also got to interact with community leaders and inform them that they are always available.
“We are on the forefront of putting ourselves out there, to protect the citizens of New York and the country,” Dunfee said. “This is what we do.”
The warehouse was loaned to the unit by its owner, Stickermule in Amsterdam, one of the largest manufacturers of stickers.