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Training at 188th helps Air National Guard CBRNE Challenge Team prep for national event

  • Published
  • By Capt. Heath Allen
  • Arkansas National Guard Public Affairs Officer
FORT SMITH, Ark. --  The 188th Fighter Wing is in the business of preparation.

The 188th's Regional Training Site Special Tactics and Response facilities functioned as the training site for the Air National Guard Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRNE) Challenge Team's preparation for this week's Air Force-wide CBRNE competition held at the Center of National Response in West Virginia. The Challenge invites all Air Force MAJCOMS to compete in the event. Last year, the competition was held in San Antonio, Texas.

Senior Master Sgt. Ron Redding, the 188th's installation emergency manager, said the Fort Smith Air Guard unit's Regional Training Site is the most utilized facility in the nation for training emergency management personnel on CBRNE response. This year the Air National Guard team spent five days at the 188th April 26-30 rehearsing for this week's event.

Redding said the facility combined with the experience of the 188th's personnel in conducting such specialized training was a key factor why the National Guard Bureau contacted him to request that the 188th help prepare the Air Guard team for the competition.

"I was contacted by the National Guard Bureau and asked to provide personnel last year," Redding said. "This year they wanted us to train the team. Not everyone has the same equipment the 188th has. We're very fortunate to have more equipment than even the active duty side has. So when the Guard team comes here they get a chance to work with that equipment and practice on things they wouldn't otherwise be able to at other bases."

Redding said the Air National Guard team met at the challenge last year with no preparation and still finished a close second second in that competition just behind Air Force Space Command.

"All the other MAJCOMS conducted training scenarios prior to competing so they got a lot of training leading up to it last year," Redding said. "The Guard came in not even knowing each other and almost won."

The chance to boost that showing last year was an enticing opportunity for Lt. Col. Bill Antoszewski, who is the Air Guard's team leader for the second straight year. Antoszewski said his squad relished the chance to absorb as much training as possible entering the challenge.

"The NGB offered the 188th's facilities and we gladly took the opportunity," Antoszewski said. "The 188th has a lot of equipment and facilities you can't find at other units. The 188th also has a lot of experienced personnel who are teaching what we're going to the challenge to do, all the entry procedures, the sampling. The opportunity to come here for a week and train was huge for us."

The event, which is being held this week, features sundry unknown scenarios. Each team will participate in eight separate scenarios over five days. Each team receives an intelligence briefing before donning protective gear (fully encapsulating suit with self-contained breathing apparatus) and entering a hazardous environment, where they must identify and quantify the dangerous substance often under adverse circumstances such as low light or complete darkness. Once the hazard has been identified, the team conducts crime scene preservation.

Antoszewski said each team is graded on a series of objectives cataloged on a checklist. Points are deducted from each item missing from the list.

Antoszewski is a member of the 180th Fighter Wing based in Toledo, Ohio. He is joined on the squad by fellow 180th member, Tech Sgt. Ann McCormick, the 188th's Tech Sgt. Tim Booth, Tech Sgt. Jeff Sharpmack of the 189th Airlift Wing based in Little Rock, Ark., and Tech Sgt. Morgan Smith of the 173rd Fighter Wing based in Klamath Falls, Ore. Antoszewski, McCormick and Booth specialize in bioenvironmental. Sharpmack and Smith hail from the emergency management vocation.

"We're coming from four different bases from four different parts of the country and have never worked together," Antoszewski said. "The ability to work together as a team before we compete will help I think. Plus, the equipment and instruction at the 188th I think will really help us. They have a live burner, a smokehouse to work in. There just aren't that many in the Guard. We're hoping that some familiarity with the equipment and each other will help us out this year."

Antoszewski, though, said the most vital aspect of the training and the competition is that it helps foster the cooperation between the two career fields and exists as a boon to the overall mission.

"Bioenvironmental and emergency management personnel are who the Air Force expect to go downrange, to do analysis, surveys and quantification of hazards," Antoszewski said. "It's a special skill set that both career fields share. We have to work together for a common mission. Until a few years ago, both career fields did their own thing and the two sides didn't talk. The training we've received and this competition have been hugely beneficial for us to get on the same page."

Training at 188th helps Air National Guard CBRNE Challenge Team prep for national event

  • Published
  • By Capt. Heath Allen
  • Arkansas National Guard Public Affairs Officer
FORT SMITH, Ark. --  The 188th Fighter Wing is in the business of preparation.

The 188th's Regional Training Site Special Tactics and Response facilities functioned as the training site for the Air National Guard Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRNE) Challenge Team's preparation for this week's Air Force-wide CBRNE competition held at the Center of National Response in West Virginia. The Challenge invites all Air Force MAJCOMS to compete in the event. Last year, the competition was held in San Antonio, Texas.

Senior Master Sgt. Ron Redding, the 188th's installation emergency manager, said the Fort Smith Air Guard unit's Regional Training Site is the most utilized facility in the nation for training emergency management personnel on CBRNE response. This year the Air National Guard team spent five days at the 188th April 26-30 rehearsing for this week's event.

Redding said the facility combined with the experience of the 188th's personnel in conducting such specialized training was a key factor why the National Guard Bureau contacted him to request that the 188th help prepare the Air Guard team for the competition.

"I was contacted by the National Guard Bureau and asked to provide personnel last year," Redding said. "This year they wanted us to train the team. Not everyone has the same equipment the 188th has. We're very fortunate to have more equipment than even the active duty side has. So when the Guard team comes here they get a chance to work with that equipment and practice on things they wouldn't otherwise be able to at other bases."

Redding said the Air National Guard team met at the challenge last year with no preparation and still finished a close second second in that competition just behind Air Force Space Command.

"All the other MAJCOMS conducted training scenarios prior to competing so they got a lot of training leading up to it last year," Redding said. "The Guard came in not even knowing each other and almost won."

The chance to boost that showing last year was an enticing opportunity for Lt. Col. Bill Antoszewski, who is the Air Guard's team leader for the second straight year. Antoszewski said his squad relished the chance to absorb as much training as possible entering the challenge.

"The NGB offered the 188th's facilities and we gladly took the opportunity," Antoszewski said. "The 188th has a lot of equipment and facilities you can't find at other units. The 188th also has a lot of experienced personnel who are teaching what we're going to the challenge to do, all the entry procedures, the sampling. The opportunity to come here for a week and train was huge for us."

The event, which is being held this week, features sundry unknown scenarios. Each team will participate in eight separate scenarios over five days. Each team receives an intelligence briefing before donning protective gear (fully encapsulating suit with self-contained breathing apparatus) and entering a hazardous environment, where they must identify and quantify the dangerous substance often under adverse circumstances such as low light or complete darkness. Once the hazard has been identified, the team conducts crime scene preservation.

Antoszewski said each team is graded on a series of objectives cataloged on a checklist. Points are deducted from each item missing from the list.

Antoszewski is a member of the 180th Fighter Wing based in Toledo, Ohio. He is joined on the squad by fellow 180th member, Tech Sgt. Ann McCormick, the 188th's Tech Sgt. Tim Booth, Tech Sgt. Jeff Sharpmack of the 189th Airlift Wing based in Little Rock, Ark., and Tech Sgt. Morgan Smith of the 173rd Fighter Wing based in Klamath Falls, Ore. Antoszewski, McCormick and Booth specialize in bioenvironmental. Sharpmack and Smith hail from the emergency management vocation.

"We're coming from four different bases from four different parts of the country and have never worked together," Antoszewski said. "The ability to work together as a team before we compete will help I think. Plus, the equipment and instruction at the 188th I think will really help us. They have a live burner, a smokehouse to work in. There just aren't that many in the Guard. We're hoping that some familiarity with the equipment and each other will help us out this year."

Antoszewski, though, said the most vital aspect of the training and the competition is that it helps foster the cooperation between the two career fields and exists as a boon to the overall mission.

"Bioenvironmental and emergency management personnel are who the Air Force expect to go downrange, to do analysis, surveys and quantification of hazards," Antoszewski said. "It's a special skill set that both career fields share. We have to work together for a common mission. Until a few years ago, both career fields did their own thing and the two sides didn't talk. The training we've received and this competition have been hugely beneficial for us to get on the same page."