Va. Guard CERFP trains at Sovereign Guardian 2016

Virginia National Guard Soldiers and Airmen assigned to the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, High Yield Explosive Enhanced Response Force Package, or CERFP, train during Sovereign Guardian 2016 with members of the District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Service Department Feb. 24, 2016, at the Washington DC Fire & EMS Training Academy in Washington, DC.

The Washington DC National Guard is hosting Sovereign Guardian 2016, and the exercise is intended to strengthen interagency partnerships between National Capital Region local, state and federal agencies to improve interoperability during response to all-hazard emergencies. National Guard units from Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania are taking part in the training along with the Metropolitan PoliceDepartment, DCFEMS and the Civil Air Patrol’s National Capital Wing.

The Virginia Guard’s CERFP includes six specialized elements under the command of the Petersburg-based 276th Engineer Battalion creating a response force capable of providing support to first responders and civil authorities in the event of a disaster. The Soldiers and Airmen assigned to the unit can conduct incident management, urban search and rescue, mass casualty decontamination, technical decontamination, medical triage and treatment, fatality search and recovery and communications support. The force is made up of Soldiers and Airmen from units based in Petersburg, West Point, Rocky Mount, Danville, Virginia Beach and Langley Air Force Base, as well as Airmen from the Washington D.C. Air National Guard.

The CERFP was recommended for validation after being assessed as fully trained on 19 of 23 total major tasks, needing practice on four tasks and having no untrained tasks by an external evaluation held May 15, 2015, at the Virginia Beach Fire and EMS Training Center in Virginia Beach, Va. Read more: go.usa.gov/cdKKk