WARRENTON, Ore (KPTV) – A Washington-based U.S. Army Reserve Chemical Unit is conducting a week-long simulated mass casualty event at Camp Rilea Armed Forces Training Center.
The 476th CBRN Battalion, based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., partnered with various Army Reserve units across the country to prepare for “America’s Worst Day.”
In Friday’s simulation, soldiers responded to a “10-kiloton nuclear scenario in the Puget Sound vicinity.”
“One of the big picture things that we want to do is get them out of the area so, if something happens in Seattle, maybe we want to get them out to Portland,” said Jeffrey Taylor of U.S. Army North.
The response team conducted mass casualty decontamination, medical operations, urban search and rescue, and other life-saving operations.
A group of soldiers wearing hazmat suits could be seen rescuing a mannequin from a vehicle that had been tossed to the side and decontaminating “patients” exposed to dangerous substances.
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Friday’s training was conducted in windy, rainy conditions.
“Soldiers definitely have to be a lot more careful. We had to inch through things, but the morale is high. We wouldn’t be in the Pacific Northwest if we didn’t think it was going to rain,” said First Lieutenant Emma Lerch of the U.S. Army Reserves.
Army Reserve units regularly train to respond to man-made or naturally occurring events that create catastrophic situations. Their goal is to assist local law enforcement in these scenarios.
In April, soldiers from the Warrenton simulation will travel to their Guardian Response exercise in Indiana. There, they will receive further training and will be validated to respond to disasters when needed.
Once validated, if a catastrophic event were to occur anywhere in the United States, these trained soldiers could be deployed to respond.
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