An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Tyndall Airmen face IBERCT

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Ty-Rico Lea
  • 325th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Tyndall Airmen conducted the Integrated Base Emergency Response Capabilities Training exercise on Feb. 9 through 13 to help train Airmen on proper procedures during a simulated hazardous chemical threat.

The Alliance Solutions Group Inc., from Newport News, Va., partnered with Air Combat Command in coordinating the week long training throughout ACC and Air Mobility Command bases.
Participating Members were tasked to screen hazard areas, collect samples and determine what type of hazard the chemical may possess.

"The goal of the integration aspect is to prepare the Airmen for any real-world emergency disaster responses," said CJ Pearce, ASG emergency management specialist. "What we do throughout the week is follow a step-by-step process giving the Airmen scenarios on how to handle chemical and biological hazards. As each day goes by, we build the training by adding variables and materials to each part of the exercise."

The exercise includes task knowledge evaluations and at least three field exercises involving Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosive threats or attacks.

"The week is setup to allow us the time to train on certain items followed by a lot of hands-on scenarios," said Morgan Lindsay, ASG emergency management specialist. "So half of our time is spent practicing and training while the latter half is spent doing the actual scenario exercises. We allow the teams to go in and respond as they would if it were a real situation involving a hazardous material or CBRNE event."

Throughout the course of the exercise, Airmen set up stations and accounted for all their equipment. Airmen were then divided into teams one to determine a hazardous threat and the other to collect samples.

"We learn and determine what would be the most proficient strategy to us whenever in a real-world scenario based on our results from the exercise," said Senior Airman Mary Enriquez, 325th Aerospace Medicine Squadron bioenvironmental technician. "This exercise is performed annually on base and is focused more towards emergency responders."

One Airman from the 101st Air Communication Squadron shared his thoughts on the overall success of the exercise.

"It was eye-opening working with the different organizations in a consolidated effort," said Master Sgt. Brandon Danford 101st ACOMS emergency management NCO in-charge. "Anytime the guard service can come in and run lock steps with active duty Airmen, it greatly promotes teamwork when down range."