263rd AAMDC trains with 43rd CST
11.07.12Story and photos by Staff Sgt. Tracci Dorgan, JFHQ- Public Affairs
ANDERSON, S.C.—Soldiers with the 263rd Army Air and Missile Defense Command (AAMDC), South Carolina Army National Guard, participated in Operation Palmetto Guardian Nov. 7, 2012. This group exercise incorporated members of the AAMDC and the 43rd Civil Support Team (CST), training together in the AAMDC armory.
First Sgt. Jason Fowler, 1st Sgt. of the CST, planted a suspicious envelope in a stack of mail early in the morning. “We want the envelope to be found and see if the Soldiers in the unit know what to do next.”
The envelope was found by Spc. Christina Grant, executive administrative assistant for Headquarters and Headquarters Brigade, AAMDC. Grant quickly evacuated the room, quarantined any possibly contaminated personnel, and called the staff duty officer. She then stood guard at the door to keep out other personnel. The staff duty officer then alerted Lt. Col. Douglas Dimond, AAMDC deputy commander in operations, and Maj. William Butts, AAMDC anti-terrorism force protection officer and the incident commander (IC) for this exercise.
Dimond called authorities and used the armory’s intercom system to evacuate the building. He had everyone meet at the units’ emergency rally point. He also called the Joint Operations Center (JOC) for the South Carolina National Guard. “We have received a suspicious envelope at our armory,” Dimond told the JOC.
Butts said he walked through the entire building to ensure everyone was outside and conducted a count of the full-time personnel to get accountability. “Everyone was accounted for. Our sign out system worked and we were able to know where everyone was at this time,” said Butts.
The JOC activated the CST and they arrived on scene. Chief Warrant Officer Michael Penley, AAMDC security officer, met the CST in the parking lot to brief them about what happened as the team was setting up their equipment. Sgt. Julian Scott and Sgt. James Stewart, reconnaissance non-commissioned officers with the CST, put on protective suits, gas masks, and gloves. They gathered all their equipment and headed into the building to secure the envelope. Scott said, “upon entering the room we need to describe the site to the IC. I explained everything that we were seeing.”
Stewart walked around the room. He said, “I was looking for anything suspicious or out of order. We examine everything to make sure nothing was missed. We can only take the envelope when we are sure everything else is secure.”
Scott said, “I took pictures for evidence preservation and so the IC could see what was there. We used a radiation detector, and checked everything in the room for radiation. We handled the evidence using the FBI 12 step process, to make sure it is done the way labs want the sample.”
The CST must process the evidence using the FBI 12 steps in case it is ever used in a court case.
“I put the envelope in a plastic bag and took pictures after to show what we did and what we took from the scene,” added Scott.
Stewart said, “we then decontaminated ourselves and our equipment to make sure we don’t take contamination back to the unit.”
Once the envelope was in the CST staging area, Master Sgt. Bryan Barnes, the medical non-commissioned officer, further proceeded to test the envelope and it’s contents.
“We split the contents into two samples. I test one and send the other to state labs,” said Barnes. “We can test for chemicals, run the sample through a microscope, and look for DNA.”
With the envelope secured and tested, the operation is complete. Penley said, “Everything went very well and we completed all command objectives. We found a few areas for improvement, but we completed every step as needed.”
Penley added, “I was very impressed by the CST. Their professionalism was amazing.”
“I was caught off guard so I had to think quick and remember what had to be done,” said Dimond. He was one of the contaminated Soldiers held in quarantine and he didn’t have his check-list with him. “That made this exercise even better for me because you really never know when something could happen. Overall, I think we all did a good job and we learned a lot from this.”
