National Guard Disaster Response Unit Completes Training Today

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New York Army National Guard Soldiers assist a simulated casualty during a disaster drill conducted in Oriskany on June 15, 2016.

ORISKANY, NY (06/18/2016)(readMedia)-- A regional disaster response force of National Guard Soldiers and Airmen has successfully completed a weeklong training and validation exercise with Department of Defense experts and observers here at the New York State Preparedness Center to certify their readiness.

The National Guard's Homeland Response Force (HRF) is one of ten established by the Department of Defense to serve as a Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and High Explosive (CBRN) Consequence Management Response force.

The force is led by a command post made up of members of the Troy-based 42nd Infantry Division and included troops from across the state, with units from New York City, the Hudson Valley, Capital Region as well as New Jersey Army National Guard.

"The training has definitely been a challenge," said Brig. Gen. Gary Yaple, 42nd Infantry Division Deputy Commander and senior commander of the HRF element, referring not only to the warming temperatures in Central New York but the different operating environment for troops to focus on disaster operations versus their traditional warfighting focus. "But we've been able to pick it up each day of training and improve."

The Homeland Response Force consists of about 570 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 of the mission.

These elements include the 104th Military Police Battalion Headquarters, based in Kingston, N.Y., to provide command of the CBRN response force.

Troops donning the hazmat protective suits to operate in a CBRN incident include the 206th Military Police Company from Latham, N.Y., troops who received specialized training similar to first responders to search and extract victims of a CBRN event.

Soldiers from the 222nd Chemical Company, based at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn, N.Y. operate the decontamination element, tasked with the critical mission of removing any CBRN contaminant on casualties before their evacuation from a hazardous site.

Air National Guard members from across New York State staff the medical triage element, helping civilian first responders categorize and prioritize the medical care of potential CBRN event victims. Air Guard personnel also provide expertise and equipment for the task force communications gear and a emergency operations command suite that both assist the coordination and staff support to an incident command post.

"This is the first time our entire element has been able to come together as a whole unit," said Maj. Monique Foster, operations officer for the 104th Military Police Battalion headquarters. All of the CBRN response force elements trained separately or in limited groups over the year, Foster said.

Training throughout the week followed the traditional crawl, walk, run model for the troops mastering their CBRN response mission, said exercise planner Lt. Col. Aron Sachetti from New York's Joint Force Headquarters.

Observer Controller Trainers were on hand each day to provide guidance, share lessons and mentor troops to become increasingly more proficient and more confident in their tasks.

All told, there were about 700 participants on hand in support of the training exercise this week. All of the forces will complete training on Saturday and return to their home armories or bases.

The Region 2 Homeland Response Force directly supports FEMA region two states and territories of New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Imagery of the CBRN exercise can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/nyng