by Debbie Sheehan, Public Affairs Office
Reports for last month’s force protection exercise have been completed and for the most part the news was good. Areas of strength were identified as well as areas that could be improved upon.
Exercise Timely Alert III was a Counter Terrorism Force Protection exercise that simulated the release of toxic chemicals.
The exercise was ambitious. It involved a simulated “weapon of mass destruction act” to evaluate the fort’s procedures, including its barrier plan, random anti-terrorism measures, crisis management, and building evacuation plans.
The elaborate exercise was really a “play within a play.” Portions of the daytime Field Training Exercise (FTX) were videotaped for an evewning tabletop Command Post Exercise (CPX) that involved the New Jersey and Monmouth County Offices of Emergency Management (OEM), the Fedreal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), eight local OEM’s, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
“This will be an exercise involving high intensity role playing. We are going to create a newscast that will be played at the beginning of the table top exercise,” said Mike Ruane, chief operating officer, for the James Thomas Group, LLC, of West Long Branch, a sub-contractor of CTSC, which conducted the exercise.
“This will test our emergency action plans with those of Monmouth County,” Ruane said. He said the simulation would look into the initial scenario involving the release of sarin gas during a public ceremony. The tabletop exercise would delve into the after effects at the county level.
“With an event like this, there are many after effects; accidents, fires, panic. You may see systems like traffic lights jam while people are trying to escape. There might be looters, people having heart attacks. We are testing the planning system,” Ruane said.
Ruane said the plan called for 75 “casualties”, volunteers from all walks of life for the FTX.
The volunteers knew their “fate.” They were given tags with their “symptoms” if they survived the attack. Others knew they were going to “die” either immediately or at a later time in the exercise.
The volunteers gathered at the pavilion near Husky Brook Park. The premise was that the pavilion was being dedicated for a chaplain killed in action in Afghanistan. As the dedication began, a “terrorist” wearing a mask unleashed the gas.
Some “died” immediately and remained at the picnic tables or on the ground or grass for the duration of the exercise.
Some were “dazed and confused” and began to wander; others leaned against trees, cars or the pavilion.
Part of the exercise involved a television crew who had been on hand to videotape the dedication. The cameraman dies in the attack, but his video was on live feed to a ficticious news studio. Various parts of the exercise were taped by another “news crew” and later used as part of the table top exercise.
As the distress calls were made, a soldier on the scene for the dedication tried to comfort the injured who complained of chest pain, failing vision, vomiting and other symptoms.
The firefighters arriving on the scenedonned protective gear and approached from a distance. They moved the “walking wounded” away from the scene and began to make health assessments.
Volunteers, including Donna Keefer, of the Logistics Readiness Center, remained in character, telling the firefighters that she couldn’t breathe.
The hazardous material team assembled their equipment and the victims were led to an area where they were sprayed with heavy streams of water and given hospital gowns to simulate removal of contaminated clothing. They were then moved to a holding area to await buses to take them to the Patterson Army Health Clinic for treatment.
As the exercise continued, a second device was set off. This “killed” most of the remaining victims. Donning Level B, encapsulated, hazardous material protective suits, firefighters entered the contaminated area and checked for survivors.
For security reasons, most of the esults of the after action s concerning the exercise cannot be made public. However, post security has to remain the priority over convenience.
There were recommendations for the continued purchase of equipment such as more shower decontamination units and protective gear.
As a result of the exercise, the Garrison has met with the Monmouth County OEM to further solidify the fort into the county communications and planning system.
Ed Devlin, Garrison acting chief of staff, said that “Timely Alert III has not only reinforced our ability to respond to a terrorist attack at the fort but further cemented the outstanding relationship we have with our local community and county emergency planners.”
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