Medical team trains for emergency response

by Linda Frost
59th Medical Wing Public Affairs

8/16/2010 - LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFNS) -- Air Force medical professionals participated in a massive joint forces field-training exercise recently simulating a terrorist attack in the U.S.

The 10-day exercise, held at Camp Atterbury, Ind., allowed servicemembers to participate in a war game scenario and know their specific duties in case a catastrophic event ever occurs in the U.S.

Nearly 125 Airmen from Lackland Air Force, Maxwell AFB, Ala., and Sheppard AFB, Texas, formed an Expeditionary Medical Support team to support the joint forces exercise of more than 3,500 Airmen, Soldiers, Sailors, and civilians from around the nation.

An EMEDS team is composed of medical, logistics, administrative and other staff members to quickly deploy and set up a field hospital.

In the exercise, dubbed Vibrant Response, a 10-kiloton nuclear device had been detonated, devastating the immediate area and creating a scenario that simulated a nuclear, biological and chemical attack in the Indianapolis vicinity.

Military members provided assistance to federal, state and local emergency responders during the exercise to save lives, prevent further injury and provide temporary critical support.

Led by U.S. Army North, U.S. Northern Command's Joint Force Land Component Command, the exercise included urban and aerial search and rescue missions, simulated decontamination operations, airlift and medical training.

The Air Force EMEDS team, commanded by Col. Janet Robinson, the 59th Dental Group commander, provided full-scale medical support for ground evacuation, treating patients, hospitalization, preventive medicine, veterinary, medical logistical support and blood distribution.

"It was a tremendous training experience ... this gave us the opportunity to train together in an environment that simulated a real world situation and helped develop us as a cohesive team," Colonel Robinson said.

Colonel Robinson said the exercise enabled the Airmen to work closely with their Army counterparts to learn each other's capabilities, ways of doing things and language differences.

"Some of the challenges we encountered were issues we should expect to meet if we were to deploy to an event, and were invaluable in forcing us to develop workarounds to get the mission accomplished," Colonel Robinson added.

"As expected, our Air Force personnel deployed with the right attitude, motivation and desire for excellence, and did an outstanding job working with other federal, state and local emergency responders," she said.