KERRVILLE, Texas — With just two days’ notice, 16 firefighters and four search dogs from the Czech Republic arrived in the Texas hill country, teaming up with National Guard members to search flood-affected areas for missing individuals.
The effort marked the first time the Czech Urban Search and Rescue Team, known as CZERT, operated on U.S. soil, a milestone made possible through the Department of Defense National Guard Bureau State Partnership Program, which pairs Guard elements with partner nations worldwide for mutual training and subject matter expert exchanges. The Texas National Guard and the Czech Republic have been paired in the program since 1993.
“I am proud. My team is ready,” said Jaromír Píš, the CZERT team leader. “We came here to help. The Guard and the Texas people have been good to us.”
The Czech team worked alongside Soldiers with the Texas Army National Guard’s 454th Engineer Company and the 640th Small Unmanned Aerial Systems Detachment, as well as Missouri and Indiana National Guard task forces.
The CZERT teams and their search dogs, dual-certified in locating both survivors and victims, worked long hours in thick brush, unstable terrain and July heat.
“The dogs are part of the team,” Píš said. “They are trained to find people, to help us help.”
Píš said the dogs are more than tools; they’re trusted teammates, trained to perform in chaotic environments and capable of locating people faster and more safely than human crews alone.
Czech drone operators also brought a compact first-person view, or FPV, drone, flying it low and fast along narrow creek beds. At the same time, Soldiers with the 640th SUAS Det. operated larger drones at higher altitudes to generate wide-area imagery.
The teams combined capabilities in real time to scout terrain, mark hazards and direct searchers safely into hard-to-reach areas.
“That’s one of the coolest things we’ve seen,” said Army Capt. Steven Landrum, officer in charge of the team with the 640th SUAS Det. “We’d fly up high, scan the area, find points of interest — and then the Czech team would come in and fly that FPV drone right through the trees. We were able to communicate and work together to cover a lot of ground quickly.”
Landrum praised the high-low flight strategy his team and the Czech team coordinated and said the Czech drone helped navigate places too tight for Guard aircraft to safely enter.
“They could get into spaces we couldn’t, fast,” he said.
Meanwhile, Soldiers with the 454th Engineer Company cleared flood debris and conducted coordinated grid searches. Their work was supported from the air and reinforced by task force partners.
“There’s been a lot of improvising,” said Army 2nd Lt. Dominique Anderson, a platoon leader with the 454th Eng. Co. “It’s boots on the ground, finding what works. We’re all learning. It’s really been a team effort the whole time.”
Regardless of where they come from, Piš said, what matters most is working together, communicating, coordinating and helping people in need.
The SPP partnership was built for moments like this, said Army 2nd Lt. Reese Surles, Texas Guard liaison with the Czech team. He said the Czech responders brought not only skills and manpower, but heart, and it showed in how they worked alongside U.S. forces.
“This partnership is built on trust, on real friendships,” Surles said. “They come here to support us, and they know we’d do the same. When we train together and respond together, it shows the world what this partnership means.”
The SPP currently includes 106 partnerships with 115 nations around the globe. Over the last three decades, the Czech–Texas Guard partnership has included more than 300 engagements focused on defense modernization, civil support and disaster response.