Part of Capital Spear exercise
WASHINGTON - Tech. Sgt. Chris Bolt and three other members of the Maryland National Guard's 32nd Weapons of Mass Destruction-Civil Support Team (WMD-CST) stood in their full chemical gear March 6 deep inside the Navy's display ship Berry during a training exercise at the Washington Navy Yard.
Straining their eyes to see in the dim light below the decommissioned destroyer's main deck, they bumped between air ducts and steam pipes to study a suitcase-sized device and some white powder scattered in the cramped space.
"We have a positive hit for ricin! I repeat. We have a positive hit for ricin!" Bolt yelled. The message was repeated over the radio. It was followed by a knocking noise from a nearby passageway.
"There are ghosts in this place," Bold added.
The 32nd was responding to one of several simulated terrorists events in the National Capital Region March 4-6 as part of Exercise Capital Spear.
Capital Spear included Guard civil support teams from Delaware, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia. The three-day exercise began with a multi-state response to simulated, synchronized terrorist events around the nation's capital and northwest of Indianapolis. Officials said the purpose was to enhance the interoperability of the teams.
A Navy ship is not a typical place where you would find one of the National Guard's highly-trained CSTs which investigate sites for chemical, biological and radiological agents and advise civilian responders. But then, nothing is typical about training for terrorist threats.
Members of these civil support teams are trained to deal with weapons of mass destruction and they are prepared to support their governors during domestic emergencies.
Bolt said the ricin scenario on the Berry provided realistic training for what could be encountered at any moment in the real world. Ricin, a biological weapon, is the poisonous protein in the castor bean.
The recent discovery of ricin at a Las Vegas motel by the Nevada National Guard's 92nd CST Feb. 28 was one of the deadliest substances discovered to date by a National Guard team.
"We received a call from the incident commander at this location and where eight Boy Scouts had spent their weekend on the ship," said 2nd Lt. Michael Kesh, survey team leader, on the ship's gangway.
In the simulation, four of the Scouts went to a hospital with symptoms including weakness, vomiting, nausea and tightness in their chests. The 32nd was sent to check out the ship.
"At this point we sent an entry team down. They have done some presumptive analysis and found the potential for a biological weapon," said Kesh.
It's not the first time the team has conducted shipboard exercises. "We have a large maritime threat with the Port of Baltimore, so we have done a lot of training with the Coast Guard," said Kesh.
There is currently one CST in each U.S. state and territory, and some states have or will have two teams. The teams are similar in their equipment and WMD training, but they are unique in the way the governors might ask them to respond.
A standard CST has 22 full-time Army and Air Guard members, but Kesh said the Maryland CST has a maritime strike team that can deploy four survey members with a medic and a communications expert to quickly assist civilian agencies without sending in the entire team with all of its equipment.
"It's something we are still experimenting with and seeing what works for us and what doesn't," Kesh said.
Noticeably different here were the standard charcoal chemical warfare suits the team wore as opposed to the vinyl "Robbie the Robot" self-contained protective suits that they usually operate in.
"We will typically wear the "JLIST" suit here as opposed to the "Saratoga" suit because of the confined spaces, the slip and tip hazards and the snags and tears. We don't want to risk ripping our suits," said Kesh.
The team also used re-breathing systems instead of self-contained breathing apparatus, and they deployed by driving a single communication van, leaving the team's high-tech analysis lab and other vehicles behind.
Bolt said the larger CST team was nearby to assist them if the smaller strike team required help.
"It seems to be that they are targeting the Boy Scouts," said Bolt about the exercise. He explained that in the first days of the exercise the 32nd also responded to scenarios at a Boy Scout camp on the 350-acre Camp William B. Snyder in Haymarket, Va.
Civil support teams participating in Capital Spear coordinated through joint operation centers at the District of Columbia Armory and in northern Virginia.
Bolt said multi-state exercises are held every year with the CSTs. As in Exercise Capital Spear, Bolt said the teams responded to different scenarios and operated nonstop for 72 hours, taking time out only for short breaks and to reequip.