MARTINSBURG, W.Va. –
Emergency responders at the 167th Airlift Wing participated in an all-hazards training course at the Martinsburg, West Virginia air base, preparing Airmen for a variety of real-world incidents, 1-5 May.
The hybrid program referred to as CAMR, short for Counter CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear) All-Hazard Management Response, incorporated classroom lecture, tabletop exercises and a full-scale emergency response exercise.
A cadre of subject matter expert trainers from Noble facilitated the CAMR course.
“The CAMR gives our disaster response force an opportunity to really hone the skills critical to mitigating loss of life, loss of property and damage to the environment during CBRN and emergency responses,” said Lt. Col. Paul Henry, 167th Airlift Wing Inspector General. “The cadre provided a phenomenal learning experience for all of the functions involved.”
Scott Broadribb, senior CBRN trainer for Noble, said his team was not there to critique procedures but rather to provoke thought.
“We can give you the answer, but that’s not really learning anything,” Broadribb said. “So, the goal for the evolution is to foster thought and outside-of-the-box thinking.”
Security forces, firefighters, emergency management, bioenvironmental and public health personnel participated in courses specific to their functions and a tabletop exercise was conducted to give all emergency responders a chance to step through their response plans and checklists before the full-scale exercise on the fourth day.
The 167th has conducted three previous CAMR exercises but this year was the first time that 167th’s emergency responders assigned to the Crisis Action Team (CAT), Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and Unit Control Center (UCC) functions were able to view the initial response to an active shooter and vehicle extraction before returning to their respective work centers to coordinate recovery efforts.
“The CAMR exercise was a great opportunity for me, and others, to immerse into the emergency response processes,” said Capt Rodney Brown, 167th Airlift Wing executive officer. “In this low-pressure and learning environment, the shared knowledge betters equips me for real-world events.”