During the training, the 83rd CST was tasked with responding to fictional flooding in the community of Great Falls. Once on site, the unit worked to set up a chemical lane, conduct search and rescue and contain simulated radiation that had washed ashore from a nearby river.
As part of the scenario, the Montana Guard Soldiers responded to an incident where civilians – acting as role players – sustained injuries from chemical fumes. Given no advance information about the chemical, the members of the 83rd had to figure out the source and composition of the threat before moving forward. Having connected with an emergency management team from Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls, the joint teams surveyed the building where the civilians had been injured.
“North Dakota’s CST had to cancel due to weather conditions. The other States redirected teams to cover down on the loss of [the North Dakota] element,” COL Cook said. “The Oregon CERFP had to cancel a rubble pile event in Helena due to bad road conditions, and there was a vehicle accident during the exercise that caused damage to a trailer.”
Reflecting back over the year of planning and the end result of Vigilant Guard 2018 for Region VIII, COL Cook said, “I don’t think you ever get it to work as smooth as you want it. If I had to do it again, I would do it when we didn’t have another disaster. But [no matter what] you definitely keep the mass moving in the right direction. You always learn every time you do something. The nice thing about that [is] you can apply it back to your SOPs and multi-hazardous response plan.”
By working together and remaining steadfast in their focus, the National Guard Soldiers and their State, federal and local partners dealt well with the unexpected emergency and still completed a successful training exercise. They were forced to cope real-time with the same variable to which they were training to respond – nature.
