In late April and early May, a Virginia National Guard unit called the 34th Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and High-Yield Explosives Enhanced Response Force Package (CERFP) trained to respond to a potential radiological event during an exercise on Fort Barfoot.
The exercise included a search and rescue followed by decontamination procedures with role players from the community who simulated real-life injuries. A radiological event could happen because of an industrial accident, but in recent years, the Department of Defense has conducted a lot of training to respond to a Radiological Dispersion Device or RDD that could be used in an act of terrorism.
The exercise saw the search and rescue teams crawling through rubble and blasting through concrete to access simulated casualties and bring them to a decontamination station. This time, they used a new method called dry decontamination.
"Dry decontamination is a method of absorbing or removing either liquid or particulate contamination without the use of water," explained Lt. Col. Andrew Czaplicki, who commands the 34th CERFP. "Some hazards are water-reactive and may cause immediate injury, accelerate environmental contamination or otherwise inflict lasting harm to survivors of a CBRNE event.
"Dry decontamination also makes decontamination [possible] in areas where a ready supply of water is unavailable or would be dangerous to use, like extreme cold."
The unit is one part of the National Guard's larger Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Response element, which includes 16 other CERFP units, and larger Homeland Response Forces situated all around the country. These units stand by to be alerted during a civil disaster, and fall under the Virginia National Guard’s Joint Operations Center when they are mobilized.