Plan for the worst, hope for the best: Emergency management course prepares Airmen for CBRN response

  • Published
  • By Allison Gipson
  • Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., GUIDON staff
FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo --  During the Emergency Management Apprentice Course, Airmen are taught to plan for the worst and hope for the best when it comes to chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear situations. 

Airmen from 366th Training Squadron, Detachment 7, spend 67 days at Fort Leonard Wood learning the basics of emergency management in CBRN and hazardous material response. 

"In a nutshell, what we do in the emergency management training piece is preparing," said Air Force Tech. Sgt. Kyle Yoder, emergency management non-commissioned officer-in-charge. 

Yoder said the Airmen spend 55 days at the schoolhouse and two weeks at the 1st Lt. Joseph Terry Facility and Chemical Defense Training Facility where they receive HAZMAT technician certification. 

Yoder said the course changes as current events occur to help make lesson plans relevant and up-to-date. 

"The way the course is written is to be a fluid course," Yoder said. "The best way to describe emergency management is fluid, and it is responding to events as they happen daily -- you update your plans, you update the way you are going to respond -- current events play a big role in what we push." 

Yoder said during the Airmen's course of instruction a lot of information is given to them and their time is intense. 

"There is a lot of information thrown at them, as well as a lot of acronyms. When they go out, they are doing exercises, response scenarios and working with live agents at the (CDTF)," Yoder said. 

Airman 1st Class Jacob Crow, Class 09005, said he didn't know a lot about emergency management before joining the Air Force, but upon graduation knows his role and now feels prepared. 

"Now that I am done, I am realizing how vital it is to know what is out there and what the Air Force and military can do to prevent mass casualties from different types of attacks," Crow said. 

Crow said it is more likely that there will be attacks with a chemical, biological or nuclear agents in country to country warfare, and being prepared to respond to those attacks is vital in more ways than one. 

"There is a huge hazard out there. We have learned how to detect, prevent casualties and what to do if there are casualties," Crow said. "It really is pretty interesting, and a lot of information that I didn't realize and now I know I have a very important job." 

Yoder said the Airmen leave the course as CBRN responders -- with technical expertise and an important role. 

"Their career field defines them. What we are training the Airmen to do here is the same thing they should be doing when they deploy -- being that CBRN responder and passively and actively getting in there to do those things," Yoder said. 

Senior Airman Adam Atchinson, Class 09005, was prior service Army and said after completing the emergency management course he gained a great deal of confidence after going into the course feeling unsure. 

"Reading what readiness was, at first, I didn't know if I could do it. For someone like me, I said, 'What am I getting myself into,' but I feel like the course was well planned, and I feel great about my job knowledge," Atchinson said. 

Both Atchinson and Crow agreed and said most of their confidence was gained during their two weeks at the Terry Facility and CDTF. 

"I wasn't scared, but at the same time you realize you are working with a live agent (stimulants) and you are in the presence of it. That is huge," Atchinson said. "Once we get in there everything makes sense. All that we have learned and what the instructors have been talking about. When you are done, you know you can do this."