MUSCATUCK, Ind. (3/11/11) – A simulated nuclear attack was launched against Lexington, Ky., today and members of the Colorado National Guard responded.

The Colorado Army National Guard’s147th Brigade Support Battalion, in partnership with the Colorado Air National Guard’s 140th Medical Group, conducted Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and high-yield Explosives (CBRNE)-Enhanced Response Force Package (CERFP) operations in order to limit the loss of civilian life and human suffering due to the attack.

As part of the scenario, a simulated dirty bomb was set off in a parking garage, which collapsed, trapping close to 20 civilians. Radiation permeated throughout a 300-foot radius, causing victims outside of the garage to be contaminated. The disaster area was simulated by debris from road and building deconstruction.

The incident was a hypothetical terrorist attack with simulated biological, radiological and chemical weapons as part of a training exercise that involved the Colorado National Guard, Indiana Army National Guard, Army North, civilian first responders and civilian role players.

“It’s paramount to learn to work with other National Guards, active duty components and with civilian agencies because these are the people who we will have to work with when disaster really does strike,” said Army Maj. James Dempsey, Colorado’s CERFP commander. “We learn each other’s lingo and processes so that when the time comes, we can operate as efficiently and as effectively as possible.”

As there were many moving parts, Army North orchestrated the exercise and delegated each task. Civilians depicted casualties and displaced refugees. The senior federal civilian officer on site was responsible for the management of all military and civilian relief efforts in the disaster area.

The company-level commanders were responsible for direct coordination of mission execution. There was a civilian disaster medical assistance team, which delivered non-air evacuation civilian casualties. Civilian role players were actual or retired paramedics and police or former first responders who were tasked to provide support and information.

CERFP troops arrived on scene dressed in protective gear to ward off the effects of radioactive elements and dangerous chemicals. Once an initial assessment of the CBRNE risk was made by CERFP Soldiers, injured civilians were taken to a decontamination tent, then processed through medical triage and treatment.

“We can take care of immediate casualties. We have critical care capabilities, and then we disposition our casualties either via ambulance, air evacuation or other forms of ground evacuation,” said Air Force Col. Paul Shingledecker, commander of the 140th Medical Group.

CERFP has three primary capabilities: search and extraction, which searches for victims and extracts them from collapsed structures; decontamination, which provides safe removal of contaminants; and medical, which provides evaluation and triaging for evacuation.

More than 200 Colorado Citizen-Soldiers and Citizen-Airmen of the joint National Guard unit are predominantly traditional troops who drill one weekend a month along with at least two weeks of annual training a year. They perform this community-based response capability as an additional duty.

“We treat all our missions as if they are real-world scenarios, and our hard work pays off with exercises like the one we were involved in today,” said Army Capt. Bryan Murphy, administrative officer for Colorado CERFP.