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News | July 16, 2014

U.S. Army North, Indiana DHS announce exercise

By ARNORTH Public Affairs U.S. Army North

FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas – U. S. Army North, U. S. Northern Command’s Joint Force Land Component Command, will host about 5,500 military and civilian personnel from across the country to take part in a major training exercise simulating the response to a terrorist attack in the United States.

Exercise Vibrant Response, the nation’s premier disaster response exercise, will take place July 21 – Aug. 7 at Camp Atterbury, Ind., and surrounding areas. The exercise will include participants from the Department of Defense, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Indiana Department of Homeland Security, and numerous other local, state, and federal agencies.

The training will include urban and aerial search and rescue missions, simulated decontamination operations, airlift, medical training and many other events. Joint Task Force – Civil Support, based at Fort Eustis, Va., and members of the Defense Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear (CBRN) Response Force (DCRF) will be put to the test during the first half of the exercise along with FEMA and the IDHS.

Army North’s Joint Task Force 51 will mentor the newly established Task Force 76 as they and the Michigan National Guard will lead the forces of the two Command and Control Contingency Response Elements (C2CRE-A/B) as they support federal, state and local emergency responders during the second half of the exercise.

Task Force-76 is comprised of Reserve members from the 76th Operational Response Command, Salt Lake City; and the 302nd Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, Chicopee, Mass. The realism of the scenarios and participation of so many local, state and federal response agencies make VR14 the premier disaster response exercise in the nation. The DCRF and C2CREs are organized into four task forces: Task Force Operations, Task Force Aviation, Task Force Medical and Task Force Sustainment. Their capabilities include CBRN technical rescue, decontamination, aviation, medical, logistics and other functions.

Army North, when directed by the Commander of U.S. Northern Command, deploys response forces to support civil authorities in order to save lives, prevent further injury and provide temporary critical support.