New York National Guard tests Homeland Response Force with exercise

By Master Sgt. Corine Lombardo, New York National Guard

VALHALLA, N.Y. (8/12/13) - Nearly 600 National Guard Soldiers and Airmen from New York and New Jersey joined forces to exercise techniques they would implement when called to assist first responders and health officials.

It was a simulated catastrophe, but it was taken seriously by the roughly 400 National Guard Soldiers and Airmen from New York and New Jersey who converged at the Westchester County Division of Emergency Services Fire Training Center to conduct Homeland Response Force training exercise, Aug. 8-11.

Their task is to detect, identify, assess and render-safe an area exposed to hazardous materials and decontaminate people and property exposed to chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) materials resulting from an attack or incident.

The Homeland Response Force or HRF consists of nearly 600 Soldiers and Airmen of the National Guard with expertise in search and extraction of disaster victims, incident site security, decontamination, medical treatment and command and control.

"The scenario is a train derailment with a chemical spill, but regardless of the type of incident, our team is ready to step in and assist local responders," said Maj. Fred McCoy, the New York National Guard's CBRN deputy commander.

Past scenarios for training the emergency responders have included earthquakes, truck chemical spills and terrorist attacks on buildings.

The individual scenario may vary but the skills the team's Soldiers and Airmen use remain the same, McCoy said.

Each element of the team goes through specialized training and conducts individual training exercises throughout the year. According to McCoy, the HRF exercise enabled all components of the team to come together and practice as one entity.

The exercise was designed to foster increased dialogue between regional first responders and other state and federal response agencies.

For members of the1156th Engineer Company, located in Kingston, N.Y., the exercise gave them an opportunity to exchange techniques and procedures for extracting and evacuating casualties with Westchester County firefighters, McCoy said.

"During a real incident it's likely we will be working side-by-side with local responders, so learning how they operate is as important as practicing what we do," McCoy said.

Additional members of the HRF include:

• The 104th Military Police Battalion Headquarters based in Kingston, who provide command of the CBRN response elements at the incident site;
• A decontamination element from the 222nd Chemical Company, based at Fort Hamilton, N.Y., who are augmented by volunteer members of the New York Guard's 88th Brigade, based primarily in New York City;
• And Medical personnel from various New York Air National Guard
  units which handle the triage and transfer of casualties for civilian medical treatment.

The New Jersey National Guard's 328th Military Police Company from Cherry Hill, N.J., the 253rd Transportation Company from Cape May Court House, N.J., the 108th Air Refueling Wing from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J. and the 177th Fighter Wing from Egg Harbor Township, N.J. provided the security forces for the Homeland Response Force.

Another 200 soldiers from the 42nd Infantry Division Headquarters, based in Troy, N.Y., handle mission command and logistics tasks for the force.

During the Aug. 8-11 exercise, they set up a command post at the nearby  New York National Guard's Camp Smith Training Site in Cortlandt Manor.

The HRF is aligned with Region II of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, supporting efforts in New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The unit provides governors with a response capability to assist civilian first responders in saving lives and mitigating suffering in response to a chemical, radiological or biological incident.

"Training our soldiers and first responders before a disaster strikes is a top priority when it comes to keeping New Yorkers safe," Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said.

"Recent years have shown us the need to prepare for the unthinkable or unlikely, and exercises like this are an important step toward building a world-class emergency response network that is ready for any crisis," Cuomo added.

The National Guard-sourced HRF is one of 10 units established by the Department of Defense to assist or relieve state officials and local first responders in dealing with CBRN attacks and incidents across the United States.

The team trains under Defense Department guidelines to respond within a 6-12 hour window to local authorities after a CBRNE or other hazardous materials incident requiring assistance from federal military resources.

CBRNE rapid response teams to be deployed nationwide

“The thing we all worry about is a terrorist with a weapon of mass destruction,” Navy Admiral James Winnefeld Jr., the commander of U.S. Northern and North American Aerospace Defense Commands, told American Forces Press Service. “And, increasingly, we worry about terrorists who are realizing that they don’t need a big boom to make a difference.”

That is why the Pentagon has announced that Ohio and Washington are the first two states to have been selected to host the new National Guard homeland response forces (HRF).

Called for in the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review, the HRF is designed to work in collaboration with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), at the behest of an affected state’s governor, to provide rapid response to chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-explosive (CBRNE) attacks. The Department of Defense (DoD) plans to establish 10 HRFs, one for each of the 10 FEMA regions across the U.S.

Each HRF will consist of 570 guardsmen that will be able to respond to a CBRNE threat on the ground within six to 12 hours. The team will have 45 medical personnel, 50 search and extraction personnel, 75 decontamination personnel, as well as a 200-member security team and another 200 individuals who will execute command-and-control. When not deployed, the teams will focus on planning, training and exercising at the regional level.

“We would like to see [the HRF] play a very important role at the regional level in terms of helping develop and build regional plans and working with the state emergency managers,” said Christine Wormuth, principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and security affairs, at the National Guard Bureau's Domestic Operations Workshop on March 24. "We'd like to see the HRFs, that command and control element inside of the HRFs, really build that connective tissue at the regional level."

DoD hopes to have the first two offices open by the end of the year, with an additional office opening each year over the next eight years.

But there are still aspects of the program that need to be worked out, Wormuth noted. “Do the HRFs have to be focused only on CBRNE events or could they be used for major natural disasters like a major earthquake in California?” she asked. “And if they are going to be available for some natural disasters, how are we going to ensure that they are used prudently?”

But both Wormuth and Winnefeld have faith that the program will succeed.

Northcom has a “good, cooperative effort [with] the National Guard Bureau,” Winnefeld said. “That cooperation is growing tighter every day in terms of making sure we know the roles are standardized, and that the command and control is clean.

“I am optimistic,” Winnefeld continued.

“It’s a team effort,” Wormuth added.

http://www.gsnmagazine.com/article/20844/cbrne_rapid_response_teams_be_deployed_nationwide