U.S. Soldiers and Army civilians trained with NATO forces during live-agent chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear (CBRN) training at Exercise Precise Response on Canadian Forces Base Suffield in late July.--HANDOUT PHOTO
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During a live-agent chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) training operation, Canadian and U.S Soldiers and Army civilians worked with NATO forces to confront and defeat the world’s most dangerous hazards during a precise response exercise held at CFB Suffield at the end of July.
Soldiers as well as Army civilians from the 20th Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosives Command trained in live chemical warfare agents with NATO troops from Belgium, Finland, Norway, Sweden, U.K. and several other countries at the Suffield Defence Research and Development Canada site.
During the exercise, the team processed 80 radiological samples while the 1st Global Field Medical Laboratory, deployed by the U.S. military known as CARA, sent soldiers from the Occupational Health Threat Assessment Team to serve at the multinational laboratory with the German Bundesweher Radiological Support Staff.
This training supports NATO in sampling and identifying real-life hazards in the theatre while deployed.
Routinely, soldiers and army civilians from the 20th CBRNE Command are deployed from 19 international bases in 16 countries to defeat the world’s most dangerous hazards while supporting multinational operations.
“The exercise validated internal operating procedures while working with live chemical warfare agents, and strengthened interoperability between partner nations, preparing the laboratory for potential NATO deployments,” said Jessica Caldwell, supervisory chemist from CARA. “A key benefit of the exercise was providing real-life feedback to SIBCRA (sampling and identification of biological, radiological and chemical agents) teams on their sampling, packaging and documentation, which demonstrably improved their performance.”
Laboratory supervisory chemist with CARA, Kevin Wioland, says CFB Suffield provides an ideal environment for the training exercise due to the highly skilled Defence Research and Development Canada Suffield staff and its remote location.
“The training with diverse partners helps the laboratory understand variations in equipment, sampling techniques and packaging containers,” said Wioland. “Recognizing these difference allows Mobile Expeditionary Lab to deliver higher quality laboratory support.
“Exercises like precise response enable the CARA Mobile Expeditionary Laboratory to train with and support partner nations by providing theatre validation laboratory analysis of chemical and biological warfare materials.”
