MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- In efforts to apply and evaluate their homeland defense and expeditionary detection equipment in realistic scenarios, the 23d Aerospace Medicine Squadron’s bioenvironmental engineering technicians and the 23d Civil Engineer Squadron’s emergency management specialists conducted a radiological response exercise, March 30, here.
The two work in conjunction to improve their overall incident response capabilities by conducting realistic training and improving readiness.
“We perform health risk assessment measures while identifying and quantifying hazardous sources to maintain our standards of [contributing] occupational and environmental health support,” said U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Scott Bell, 23d AMDS NCO in charge of environmental health. “We are tasked with relaying this information to the incident commander to inform all responders and the general public.”
During their daily operations, the bio flight analyzes and advises treatment for hazardous materials which enables them to keep chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats at minimum. As first responders, they protect the public knowing lives can be at risk.
As part of a joint effort, the bio flight works alongside emergency management specialists to protect Moody’s facilities, personnel and assets from CBRN contamination and illness. With the data they assemble, they administer operational health-risk assessment competence and emergency plans to aid health services and assist wing leadership in decision making.
“Our role in this exercise is to test the bio flight’s knowledge and capabilities of reducing possible hazardous threats as they perform radiological surveys,” said Tech. Sgt. Brandi Baker, 23d CES NCO in charge of EM training. “We evaluate response procedures as [the bio flight] calibrates and use their equipment to assess if there’s a hazardous presence from their findings.
“We also test ourselves with their emergency plans and [responsiveness],” Baker added. “By doing this, we learn from one another to understand our functional operability better when dealing with real-world scenarios to understand how an event would affect the base.”
It's not an everyday occurrence for these Airmen to respond to health threat exposures ranging from natural disasters, accidents or terrorist attacks. Because of this, they stay current in their training regimens.
“We familiarize ourselves with our equipment to proficiently abide by the incident response structure,” said Bell. “The standardization of the response systems we use helps us combine forces with the [23d CES fire department] and [23d CES emergency management] to be anywhere at any time when called upon in a timely manner.
“Being counterparts allows us to respond to simultaneously with health-risk assessments and the identifying and quantifying of health hazards,” Bell added. “This is important because practice makes perfect.”
According to Senior Master Sgt. Nicole Bradley, 23d AMDS bioenvironmental flight functional manager, perfecting their timeliness and practical skills is key to reducing health hazards ensure Moody’s assets and personnel are safe.
"It was great to come out here and cross-touch the job fields to understand the importance of being proficient in our mission,” said Bradley. “Real-world instances can happen at a moment’s notice and we have to be ready at all times.”
Together, Moody’s bio flight and EM specialists identify hazards and reduce threats to secure the installation and surrounding community. Whether they are donned in anticontamination suits in sweltering heat or scanning X-ray probes for radiation during exercises, they maintain proficiency to safeguard the installation and the surrounding general public at a moment’s notice.