FORT BARFOOT, Va. – Virginia National Guard Soldiers and Airmen conducted a collective training exercise responding to a simulated mass casualty radiological event at Fort Barfoot April 28 - May 2.
The Soldiers and Airmen are assigned to the Richmond-based 34th Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and High-Yield Explosives Enhanced Response Force Package, or CERFP.
During the exercise, search and rescue, decontamination and medical teams worked together to rescue simulated casualties portrayed by role players. The three-day exercise was one of two annual collective training exercises the U.S. Northern Command requires CERFP to conduct.
“This exercise was the second of the year and sought to mobilize our elements from their home station to Fort Barfoot, perform a mass casualty decontamination site occupation and train element-specific skills,” said Lt. Col. Andrew Czaplicki, commander of the 34th CERFP.
As the search and extraction team blasted through concrete and searched the rubble pile for victims, the decontamination team was ushering survivors through their station, cutting off contaminated clothing and using dry wipes to remove contaminates from bodies. Survivors were then evaluated and treated by the medical team.
CERFP personnel worked in small teams, rotating frequently and going through their own decontamination process. The survivors, portrayed by hired members of the community, were made up to simulate significant wounds and radiation burns, adding to the realism of the exercise.
The dry contamination method was new for the CERFP and allowed the decontamination team to be flexible in different environments while providing proper decontamination for survivors.
“Dry decontamination is a method of absorbing or removing either liquid or particulate contamination without the use of water,” Czaplicki said. “Some hazards are water-reactive and may cause immediate injury, accelerate environmental contamination or otherwise inflict lasting harm to survivors of a CBRNE event. Dry decontamination also makes decontamination [possible] in areas where a ready supply of water is unavailable or would be dangerous to use, like extreme cold.”
Despite the new concept, Czaplicki said the decontamination element performed well.
“This was the first time dry decontamination supplies and techniques were taught by instructors from the West Virginia-based Army Interagency Training and Education Center,” Czaplicki said. “The training was an absolute success and I’m very pleased with how quickly our Soldiers were able to grasp the techniques and execute the tasks.”
The weather during the exercise also provided a challenge, especially to personnel in full protective gear.
“Some of our training day temperatures exceeded 85 degrees and over 70% humidity, then add another 30 pounds of suit, a protective mask, elbow and knee pads plus whatever tools you are carrying,” Czaplicki explained. “Our troops absolutely get a workout! Do that for three days straight and leaders have to start managing heat fatigue, which becomes our biggest challenge.”
The full-scale exercise allowed the team to practice their training, building towards a scheduled external evaluation and certification in 2026. Czaplicki is confident in his team after the week’s events.
“It’s consistently inspiring to witness the dedication and energy our Soldiers and Airmen bring to the mission, especially considering that participation in the task force is often an additional duty alongside their primary unit responsibilities,” Czaplicki said. “Units are tasked with supporting this critical national capability in addition to their regular training cycle. These Soldiers and Airmen attend upwards of 500 hours of additional training, plus the two major exercises, and have to remain fully deployable within six hours of recall. It’s incredible and their commitment is what makes it possible. Our people truly our most valuable strategic asset.”
The National Guard’s Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Response Enterprise, or CRE, encompasses all National Guard weapons of mass destruction and CBRN response efforts, including smaller-sized Civil Support Teams, 16 other CERFPs and 10 larger-sized Homeland Response Forces stationed at strategic locations across the nation. National Guard CRE assets are distributed to each of the 10 Federal Emergency Management Agency regions to provide unique capabilities at a moment’s notice when requested by civilian authorities. Each package can deploy to incidents, conduct command and control and work with first responders in casualty assistance, search and extraction, mass casualty decontamination, medical triage and stabilization, incident site communications and fatality management.
The CERFP is capable of providing support to first responders and civilian authorities after a chemical, biological or nuclear incident. The team includes Army and Air National Guard units, as well as Airmen from the Washington, D.C. National Guard. The team can conduct tasks that include consequence management, incident site communications, urban search and rescue, mass causality decontamination, technical decontamination, medical triage and stabilization, and human remains recovery.
If an incident requiring CERFP support occurs, Soldiers and Airmen are alerted through the Virginia National Guard’s Joint Operations Center and mobilized on state active duty. If the incident is in Virginia, they would proceed to the incident site and fall under the control of the incident commander. If the incident is outside Virginia, Joint Force Headquarters – Virginia would coordinate with the receiving state under the terms agreed to in the Emergency Mutual Aid Compact.
Virginia’s 34th CERFP was authorized in June 2006. Currently, 27 CERFP teams are available nationwide with three in FEMA Region 3 in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia.