34th CST conducts night operations training in Harrisonburg

Soldiers and Airmen of the Virginia National Guard's Fort Pickett-based 34th Civil Support Team conduct night operations training Aug. 14, 2019, in Harrisonburg, Virginia. The mission of the 34th CST is to support first responders in potential biological, chemical, nuclear, radiological and explosive incidents, and the exercise provided an opportunity for the team to train in a limited visibility situation. In the exercise scenario, law enforcement officials discovered a possible hazardous material, and the 34th CST was brought in to assist the locality with the incident. Members of the survey section conducted rooms searches, gathered simulated samples of potential hazardous materials, took photos and then the samples were evaluated by the analytical section in order to provide the incident commander with information about potential hazards. The 34th also provided mission command and communications assistance to the incident commander. The two-day exercise was conducted at James Madison University as part of an ongoing training partnership between JMU and the 34th CST.