Saturday, October 3, 2015 –
JUNCTION CITY, Wis. - U.S. Army Reserve Soldiers with the 388th Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear Company, out of Junction City, Wis., participated in a joint training exercise at the Stevens Point Municipal Airport Oct. 3, 2015.
The 409th Area Support Medical Company out of Madison, Wis., and local Stevens Point and Portage County officials participated and observed. Local civilians volunteered to role play as casualties, including a family with two small children, bringing a new level of realism to this exercise and giving Soldiers real world experience in the delicate handling of children in mass casualty decontamination scenarios.
The joint exercise gave everyone involved a chance to experience what their role would be in a real world emergency. Army Reserve Soldiers play a supporting role to the local officials, so it is vital to learn how to communicate and coordinate across organizations.
The scenario involved an exploded fertilizer factory with an unknown number of injured civilians and multiple organizations responding. If this happened for real, there would be a lot of moving pieces. The more pieces the 388th could bring into the training scenario, the better.
Local agencies involved included the Stevens Point Fire Department, Stevens Point Police Department, Plover Fire Department, Portage County Sheriff’s Office, Portage County Emergency Management, Portage County Health Department and Ministry Saint Michael’s Hospital.
The exercise was covered by several local media outlets including Channel 7 News, Stevens Point Journal, Portage County Gazette, and Stevens Point City Times. Chris Mueller and Megan McCormick, Stevens Point Journal, spoke with 388th Soldiers, U.S Army North Instructors and local officials.
The published article sums up the importance joint training as seen from the prospective of the local community. An excerpt from the article follows:
“…The large-scale training exercise brought emergency responders from various local agencies together with the 388th Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear Company, a U.S. Army Reserve unit from Junction City, on Saturday at the Stevens Point Municipal Airport.
Portage County Emergency Manager Matt Dykstra said the training exercise gave local emergency responders a chance to work alongside members of the military and gave both sides a chance to get to know one another.
“The more we can become familiar with them, the easier it is going to be to work together in the future,” Dykstra said.
In the event of a real-life emergency, the soldiers could be called to help if local responders become overwhelmed by a disaster or don’t have enough resources, said 1st Sgt. Gary Boda, of the 388th Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear Company.
The training exercise was meant to give both the soldiers and local responders a chance to communicate with each other and see what the other can do, Boda said.
“We have our own language. They have their own language,” Boda said. “Now we’re able to communicate.”
Mike Rozsypal, of U.S. Army North, was one of several officials who observed the training exercise and would later go over the performance of those involved to talk about what went right and what could be improved.
“When lives are at stake, it’s better to push it