1st Lt. Matthew Marks ensures his microscope is aligned properly as he prepares to identify a chemical agent. |
National Guard’s 7th Civil Support Team completes internal trainingFORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (Nov. 20, 2009) — The 7th Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team completed two days of internal training that focused on mission essential tasks this week at Fort Leonard Wood. The Missouri National Guard team responded to an “incident” at Abrams Theater and another at the training tunnels at the 1st Lt. Joseph Terry Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear Responder Training Facility. The first exercise was coordinated by 1st Lt. Richard Sambolin, the unit’s reconnaissance section officer in charge. In this scenario, the theater was set in Anywhere, USA. A chief of a fire department requested support after six youths presented themselves at a local hospital with signs and symptoms of some type of chemical exposure after attending an evening movie at a local theater. The next day, 30 more people who had been at the same screening became ill. The second exercise was facilitated by 1st Lt. Matthew Marks, the unit’s nuclear medicine science officer. The scenario involved a pair of ‘disgruntled employees’ from the facility who were using a training area to produce drugs, hazardous chemicals and explosives. The drugs were to be sold to fund the production of weapons of mass destruction. The labs the fictional characters used were full of potential hazards. “The premise of the exercise was to almost overwhelm the reconnaissance team with the number of chemicals and equipment they saw in the labs,” said Marks.
Click here to read more on Pulaski County Daily News ...By Matthew J. Wilson/Missouri National Guard Public Affairs
