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Alumni Spotlight
Megan Pool
Vicksburg High School Class of 2007
"There's just been a terrorist attack of a 10-ton nuclear device explosion in downtown Indianapolis, and the surviving town on the outskirts needs immediate emergency aid response," was the call that jolted the daughter of a Vicksburg couple into action.
Army Pfc. Megan M. Pool (DoD photo by Benjamin Faske)
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Luckily for Army Pfc. Megan M. Pool, daughter of Timothy and Robin Pool of S. 29th St., Vicksburg, the call wasn't for a real terrorist attack, but for a federal emergency response exercise called "Vibrant Response." The week-long exercise simulated a terrorist nuclear attack in the United States, and required our nation's military from all services, along with local and state first responders to quickly be put into action.
Pool was one of more than 4,000 military and civilian participants who recently converged on Camp Atterbury's Joint Maneuver Training Center, along with the nearby Muscatatuck Urban Training Center, and its surrounding communities in southern Indiana to test their emergency response capabilities.
"My role here is to prepare, cook, and serve food for my fellow comrades," said Pool, who is a combat food specialist for the 170th Military Police Company, Fort Lewis, Wash. "We serve anywhere from 600 to1,200 soldiers for each meal. We also have to prepare the dining facility for each meal."
With an underground tunnel system, nine miles of roads, and more than 120-plus buildings, which included a hospital, nursing home, parking garages, power plant, schools, and a police station, Muscatatuck was the perfect location for this training event.
Burning vehicles and garbage, rubbage piles, emergency sirens, and lots of smoke from fog machines and smoke candles, made the training center look like it had indeed been the site of a nuclear disaster. Role players were hired to portray survivors, and moulage experts made the injuries and ailments that they would receive by surviving such an incident look as realistic as possible.
U.S. Army medical Black Hawks sit on the runway awaiting a mission at Shelbyville Municipal Airport, Ind., during "Vibrant Response." (DoD photo by Benjamin Faske)
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Assessment, search and rescue, decontamination, medical, aviation, engineering and logistics missions were performed by military teams that surveyed the damage, erected triage centers, setup decontamination sites, and performed radiation tests to ensure it was safe for service members to begin work.
Search and rescue, and decontamination teams removed civilians and casualties from the devastated area. Affected victims were decontaminated and then triaged and provided with medical care. As ambulances and helicopters stood by, the medical team coordinated ground evacuation, hospitalization, veterinary care, preventive medicine, blood distribution, and medical logistical support of patients.
Military members constantly train for battle in a foreign country, but making sure that they are prepared to respond on American soil is also important. Training for such a catastrophe has been deemed mandatory by U.S. military officials.
Marines assigned to the Chemical-Biological Incident Response Force, Indian Head, Md., remove a victim from a contaminated building during "Vibrant Response." (DoD photo by Benjamin Faske)
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"To prepare for this exercise, we had to make sure that our mobile kitchens were prepared to standards for the mission," said Pool, who graduated in 2007 from Vicksburg High School, and in 2008 from Kalamazoo Valley Community College.
When a natural disaster occurs, local city and county first responders are the first on the scene. But an event like a nuclear detonation would quickly require regional and national responders to assist.
For Pool and the others, an exercise like "Vibrant Response" allows everyone to work out any kinks that may arise at an inopportune time during a real disaster. Valuable lessons were learned each day including communication, logistical, and coordination issues. It also helps Pool and the others understand how federal, local, and state agencies become one to complete a mission of this magnitude.
"This type of exercise is important because it brings everyone, military and civilian, together to work as one to help serve those in need during an emergency," said Pool, who has been in the military for almost two years.
Hopefully for Pool and all of the participants, lessons learned during "Vibrant Response" will never have to be used. But in case they do get that call one day, they will be prepared to respond.
Story by By Dona Fair - Defense Media Activity - San Antonio, TX
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