Emegency medical teams transport casualties to the emergency room for further evaluation in Operation Red Dragon. At the arrival of each ambulance, triage nurses at Froedtert and Children’s Memorial Hospital were on standby to quickly determine where to send each patient for treatment.
Red Dragon ’09 Takes Homeland Defense to New Level
By Sgt. Mekonya Cheefus
335th Signal Command (T) Public Affairs
On June 17, the scene at Froedtert Hospital in the Milwaukee, Wis. area appeared to be out of a sci-fi movie. A radiological explosive exposing hundreds of people had gone off. The hospital grounds were chaotic and casualties everywhere screaming for help. Response teams; fire fighters, ambulances, and medical staff, frantically assisted and screened the victims for radiation contamination; among them, was the U.S. Army Reserve.
Luckily, instead of a real world disaster, this Hollywood scene was one part of a training exercise called Operation Red Dragon organized by the 335th Signal Command (Theater) in East Point, Ga.
Approximately 3,000 Army Reserve Soldiers from the 415th Chemical Brigade traveled to the Southeast Wisconsin region to participate in this annual homeland defense training exercise. The purpose is to test coordination and communication between military, area hospitals and local authorities to enhance military responsiveness in real world disaster.
"I don't want the community to view us as a threat, or that we're there to take over anything," said Lt. Col. Leslie Dillard, Chief of Homeland Defense with the 335th SC. "We're there to train with their personnel in the community, and help make us better as responders, just in case something happens."
Usually held at Fort McCoy, Wis., this was the first time the military has expanded the exercise to involve civil authorities. As a result, simulated chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear (CBRN) attacks took place in a variety of cities such as Madison, Sheboygan, and Lacrosse.
A variety of agencies participated to include the FBI, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, local police and fire departments, local hospitals, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the United States Coast Guard.
“They [Reserve Soldiers] provide support. They report to that fire chief and say, “where would you like us to be?” explained Brig. Gen. James T. Cook, Commander of the 415th CB from Greenville, S.C. “This is a complete supportive role.”
During the exercise, Soldiers made use of a full range of special equipment to simulate decontaminating and treating the "casualties." Some mock victims were decontaminated and treated in the emergency department.
The 300th Chemical Company from Morgantown, W.V. took their job very seriously as they pretended to be casualties for the day. From a pregnant woman going into delivery to small altercations about who should be seen next, they remained in full character.
“My Soldiers are very happy to be here,” said 1st Lt. Whinston Antion, company commander of the 300th. “By having these role players, it challenges the units and helps them to understand what could happen in a real world scenario.”
The exercise concluded June 27 with Soldiers undergoing validation testing of their response skills by Army officials.
"We have to be ready. Anything could happen, as we are well aware with 9/11. We were caught off-guard, and so we've made a determination that we're not going to be caught off-guard again," Dillard said.
