PERRY, Ga. – The Louisiana National Guard Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and High-Yield Explosive Enhanced Response Force Package conducted a training exercise in Georgia culminating in a National Guard Bureau evaluation Dec. 1–7.
The CERFP is a joint, self-sustained unit of Louisiana Army and Air National Guard members. The specialized team is trained to deploy rapidly to disaster zones, providing casualty search and extraction, patient decontamination and emergency medical services.
“This event is absolutely a Super Bowl amongst the CBRNE community,” said Col. Joseph Barnett, commander of the 61st Troop Command, headquartered in Carville, Louisiana. “This facility provided us with a real-world environment unlike anything we had available to us in the state, and its successful completion validates that we’re prepared to respond to a real-world disaster.”
Barnett, who also acts as the joint incident commander of the CERFP when it is activated, stressed that the Georgia training venue was pivotal to mission success.
The LANG CERFP was the first National Guard disaster response group to train at Guardian Centers of Georgia. This state-of-the-art disaster response training facility offers challenging, realistic scenarios to evaluate operational capabilities and mission readiness.
Over 240 Louisiana National Guard members participated in the exercise.
Air Guardsmen assigned to the 159th Fighter Wing, headquartered in Belle Chasse, contribute medical personnel, a fatality recovery unit and Joint Incident Site Communication Capability.
“I’m an emergency medicine physician on the civilian side … this is a little different because we’re in a field environment working in tents instead of in a hospital,” said Lt. Col. Drew Shiner, assigned to the 159th Medical Group, headquartered in Baton Rouge. “Our team has another emergency physician, a family medicine physician, and an OBGYN as well, so it’s a diverse mix of different specialties that we bring to the table. This is what we train for and this is what we do in the Guard.”
Louisiana Army National Guardsmen assigned to the 61st Troop Command bring Soldiers proficient in chemical detection, obstacle breaching, search and extraction, technical rescue and mass patient decontamination.
This training required the ability to adapt and improvise.
“It’s unique because there are nuances related to how you execute command and control,” said Barnett. “We follow FEMA guidelines, FEMA terminology and FEMA training with the intent of being able to embed with civilian authorities who are typically the first on scene for an event, so we need to be able to speak their language.”
The LANG’s CERFP is responsible for deploying within six hours to any location within FEMA Region 6, which includes Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.
“The logistics necessary to move the CERFP over 600 miles are extensive,” said Capt. Seth Woodfield, LANG CERFP operations officer.
Throughout the week, service members had to assess areas in the aftermath of staged CBRNE crises and coordinate responses to save lives in real-world situations. Participants had to navigate and clear obstacles, low-level radioactive environments and endless rubble during the exercise.
“Our rescues include high-angle, low-angle ropes rescue, combined spaces, all sorts of rope access to get to any sort of patient/victim for extraction or rescue purposes,” said Spc. Amy Brignac, assigned to the 239th Military Police Company and a member of the CERFP search and extraction ropes team.
“You can’t replace the training we are getting here,” said Sgt. 1st Class Lewis Sanders, assigned to 1st Detachment, 792nd Chemical Company. “Guardian Centers allowed us to get into buildings, into cement-collapsed structures and steel-collapsed structures. It’s brought an element into our training that otherwise the Soldiers would just not get.”
“It’s incredible. You can see all the detail that they’ve [Guardian Centers] put into it,” said Brignac. “I’ve never been to any sort of training facility like this before. In the past, we’ve used shipping containers stacked up on top of each other, so this is the most realistic setup I’ve ever seen.”
Established in November 2010, the LANG CERFP provided command and control support following Hurricane Isaac in 2012 and assisted the 62nd Civil Support Team during Mardi Gras and high-profile events like the NBA All-Star Game in New Orleans.