{"id":10032,"date":"2024-10-15T21:29:26","date_gmt":"2024-10-15T21:29:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/?p=10032"},"modified":"2024-11-20T21:29:56","modified_gmt":"2024-11-20T21:29:56","slug":"175th-wing-leads-local-emergency-management-exercise-in-maryland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/2024\/10\/15\/175th-wing-leads-local-emergency-management-exercise-in-maryland\/","title":{"rendered":"175th Wing leads local emergency management exercise in Maryland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By A1C Sarah Hoover

MIDDLE RIVER, Md. — Airmen from the Maryland Air National Guard hosted a chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear response exercise with regional partners at two Maryland National Guard training locations, September 24-28, 2024.

The Region 3 Battlefield Experience Learning (R3BEL) deployment for training exercise, a local training event that enhanced emergency readiness and response within a simulated deployed environment, took place at the 70th Regiment Regional Training Institute, Aberdeen Proving Ground in Edgewood, Maryland, and Blum Military Reservation in Glen Arm, Maryland.

A total of 30 participants from 11 emergency management flights from the Air National Guard and Air Reserves contributed to the exercise to strengthen relationships between units within the region, including a team of Maryland airmen from the 175th Wing.

\u201cThere was a lot of behind-the-scenes planning, coordinating, and preparation that happened before we got to the smooth and fun training experience our attendees enjoyed,\u201d said Maryland Air National Guard Senior Master Sgt. Jennifer Blood, the installation emergency manager for the 175th Wing, who organized and led the exercise. \u201cDue to the wonderful cadre team we put together and the emergency management personnel arriving with an open mind ready to train, it was a very successful week.\u201d

In collaboration with others in the FEMA designated Region 3 units, the exercise focused on a series of training scenarios in which airmen could test their capabilities in the event of unexpected deployment emergency management challenges while wearing the chemical suits.

\u201cWe bring different flights from Region 3 and the surrounding area where we can come together and experience some training together in more of a localized setting,\u201d said West Virginia Air National Guard Master Sgt. Glynn Willard, readiness and emergency management flight chief for the 130th Airlift Wing in Charleston, West Virginia, and one of the cadres for the exercise. \u201cWe go over some of our annual training that we do, as well as get some hands-on time out there in the field, in a simulated, deployed environment.\u201d

Participating teams from units in the FEMA\u2019s Region 3 included Air National Guardsmen from Maryland\u2019s 175th Wing, both West Virginia\u2019s 130th Airlift Wing and 167th Airlift Wing, D.C.\u2019s 113th Fighter Wing, Delaware\u2019s 166th Airlift Wing, Minnesota\u2019s 133rd Airlift Wing, Pennsylvania\u2019s 111th Attack Wing, 171st Air Refueling Wing and 193rd Special Operations Wing, as well as Ohio\u2019s 121st Air Refueling Wing and Ohio Air Force Reserve\u2019s 910th Airlift Wing.

\u201cSome of the training that we’ll do this week involves general airmanship and basic soldiering skills,\u201d said Willard. \u201cWe’ll practice convoy operations, basic weapon handling and skills, and then we’ll use those basic skills to tie into our CBRN competencies.\u201d

The R3BEL exercise was extensively planned in preparation for such events, as well as to provide the necessary training for each team of airmen.

\u201cWhen we’re working as the Air National Guard component, it’s really hard to get that dedicated time in long doses to actually get out there and train, especially in those outside-the-wire environments and situations,\u201d said Willard. \u201cIt gets us out there and we’re able to actually practice those skills in a simulated environment.\u201d

To be ready for a real-world event, it is important for Airmen to know their counterparts from other states so they are not meeting for the first time during an emergency, according to Williard.

\u201cGetting to see some of those newer faces, and then getting to see who they’ll be working with throughout their career is a really important thing for this training,\u201d said Willard.

The exercise expanded upon previous essential training that the airmen had experienced, but had not had the chance to practice in agile combat employment operations, while utilizing tactics, techniques, and procedures and emerging standard operating procedures.

\u201cWhen we’re working with chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear response, we\u2019re tying in some of those soldiering skills and response in a wartime environment, rather than just our normal response stateside or for domestic operations,\u201d said Willard.

Teams participated in a number of training modules involving Humvee operation and convoy tactics, tactical weapons handling in presumptive identification training, sensitive site exploitation sampling, reconnaissance, and biological training.

\u201cThese types of training are important for our career field because we are switching from a reactive position where we are just in the office, something has happened, the scene was cleared, and we\u2019re sent in, to a proactive force,\u201d said Delaware Air National Guard Tech. Sgt. Josette Santana, emergency management specialist for the 166th Airlift Wing. \u201cWe’re going to be attached to different units, different services, and we have to be able to hold our own out there in the field.\u201d

Part of the training took place in the classroom at the 70th RTI and then teams were sent out to Blum Military Reservation throughout the week to gain hands-on training, which culminated into an intricate simulated deployment event over the last few days of the exercise.

\u201cThe exercise is broken up into different satellite exercises,\u201d said Santana. \u201cThe main objective of this exercise is to become more familiar with our equipment and the changes that our job is specifically going through.\u201d

Santana explained that one of the changes their career field is experiencing involves movement towards a four-person team attached to another branch\u2019s unit within a potential deployed environment.

\u201cIt’s important for us to get that practice, so that once we’re actually down range and all these other factors are influencing what we’re doing for our mission come into play, that we kind of have a baseline as to what we need to do because we’ve practiced it before,\u201d said Santana.

The lessons learned through this exercise have been critical to the further preparedness for units along the East Coast in the event of deployment or local disaster.

\u201cOverall, the week provided excellent training and a strong sense of cohesion was built,\u201d said Blood. \u201cI feel proud of what was accomplished and grateful for the experience and lessons it provided, and I\u2019m confident we\u2019ve established a standard for our future deployed for training events that will inspire the next emergency management leaders to keep this going.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By A1C Sarah Hoover MIDDLE RIVER, Md. — Airmen from the Maryland Air National Guard hosted a chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear response exercise with regional partners at two Maryland National Guard training locations, September 24-28, 2024. The Region 3 Battlefield Experience Learning (R3BEL) deployment for training exercise, a local training event that enhanced emergency  Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":161,"featured_media":10038,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/161"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10032"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10043,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10032\/revisions\/10043"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}