Guard Soldiers of Homeland Response Force train for hazmat event

In a dexterity exercise, 1st Lt. Tabitha Osiier (left) plays a game of Connect 4 with an area firefighter wearing hazardous material suits. The exercise was part of a hazardous materials response course taken last week by soldiers of the Region 7 Homeland Response Force at Jefferson Barracks in south St. Louis County. (Bill Phelan photo)

Bill Phelan
ngmo.pao@us.army.mil

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. - Missouri National Guardsmen who will make up the Region 7 Homeland Response Force are undergoing intensive training to meet a Department of Defense deadline to be fully operational by September.

The DOD is in the process of establishing 10 Homeland Response Forces that would react to terrorist attacks, industrial accidents or large-scale natural disasters within the U.S. Each Homeland Response unit will consist of 570 personnel from both the Army and Air National Guard, including medical units, search and extraction teams, decontamination units and security personnel.

Based on regions established by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Region 7 consists of Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska.

The Region 7 Force falls under the command and control of the 70th Troop Command at historic Jefferson Barracks in south St. Louis County, which is where 28 soldiers of the unit recently underwent hazardous materials training.

The course included how to wear a hazardous materials suit, basic firefighting techniques and how to recognize what hazardous materials might be involved in a given situation.

"We want these soldiers to be able to recognize a hazard and how to mitigate it safely," explained Shane Roden, a hazardous materials trainer with the Missouri Emergency Response Commission. "We're talking everything from fuel spills to any hazardous chemicals they might come in contact with."

The hazardous materials course was taught under the watchful eye of Byron Long, assistant chief of the Boles Fire Protection District in Franklin County.

"I'm here to make sure the course is taught correctly," Long said. "To make sure the students know how to handle themselves in an emergency, whether it is a terrorist attack or an accident of some kind."

1st Lt. Tabitha Osiier, of University City, the Troop Command medical readiness officer, was among those who took the course.

"We learned techniques on containing hazardous materials and what equipment we would use based on the situation," Osiier said. "The more we use this equipment the more familiar we will be with it and thus be better prepared to respond."

"Hands-on practice with the equipment is always better than anything you can learn in the classroom," added Spc. Charles Enzenaur, of St. Louis, who serves with the 3175th Chemical Company, based at Jefferson Barracks. "And a lot of what we learned about the various chemicals we might encounter was eye-opening. If you don't know what you're doing it could be life-threatening to us and to the public and it could leave an area contaminated for years to come."

Also impressed with the course was Capt. Paul. J. Leoni, of St. Louis, commanding officer of the 3175th Military Police Company, based in Warrenton.

"It really put things in perspective," Leoni said. "As a soldier, you want to rush in and help people but this course teaches you to step back and use your training to assess the situation first. If you rush in, you might just add to the number of victims."

Each student received a state hazardous materials certificate upon completion of the 24-hour course.

The Region 7 Homeland Response Force will include elements of the 70th Troop Command, the 835th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion in Jefferson City, the 1140th Military Police Company, in Fulton, the 735th Field Service Company, of De Soto, the 3175th Military Police Company, based in Warrenton, the 1175th Military Police Company, based in St. Clair, and the 139th Medical Group, an Air National Guard unit based in St. Joseph.

The goal of each HRF unit is to achieve a 6-12 hour response time.

For more information about the Missouri National Guard, please visit www.moguard.com and our social media sites: www.facebook.com/Missouri.National.Guard; www.twitter.com/Missouri_NG; www.youtube.com/MoNationalGuard; www.myspace.com/missouri_ng; www.flickr.com/photos/missouriguard; www.moguard.com/blog

Under the watchful eye of trainer Shane Roden (center), Spc. Charles Enzenaur (in yellow hat) takes his turn at mastering a fire hose as part of a hazardous materials response course taken by National Guard Soldiers of the Region 7 Homeland Response Force at Jefferson Barracks. The Mehlville Fire Protection District supplied the fire truck and hoses for the course. (Bill Phelan photo)