Air Force Featured Stories

Joint training strengthens Air Force, Army collaboration

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Christopher Hubenthal
  • 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
Airmen and Soldiers practiced Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and high yield explosives training techniques and procedures Feb. 22, 2019, as part of a joint decontamination training event.

The event was the conclusion of a four phase curriculum. Participants from the 379th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron and the1st Battalion, 43rd Air Defense Artillery regiment, 11th ADA Brigade, shared CBRNE best practices and tested their response proficiency during the training.

“The goal of this is to build a relationship to know our capabilities and to train together since we’re both doing the same kind of CBRNE mission,” said Master Sgt. Julia Dandurand, 379th ECES emergency management flight chief. “We have equipment that the Army doesn’t have, the Army has equipment that we don’t have, and this puts our equipment familiarization into practice out in the field.”

Airmen and Soldiers worked together during tasks including Mission Oriented Protective Posture donning and doffing drills, ground survey, and decontamination familiarization.

“The exercise is the culmination of everything we learned together,” said Staff Sgt. Karl Spindler, 379th ECES emergency management training NCO in charge. “Doing things like this, gearing up, (donning) the mask, going through surveys … that’s my favorite part.”

The joint training provided both military branches an opportunity to share service specific processes. Airmen shared their experience in decontamination procedures and Soldiers showcased MOPP exchange techniques.

“I’m definitely walking away with more knowledge in the CBRNE area especially in decontamination,” said U.S. Army Spc. Riley Sharp, 1-43rd ADA patriot fire control enhanced operator and maintainer. “I’m definitely walking away with more friendships. I’m teaching people how to do their job better, they’re teaching me how to do my job better. That’s really what it comes down to.

“Joint training is definitely beneficial specifically to equipment and our tactical techniques and procedures,” said Dandurand. “We’re trying to become a joint force where our procedures are the same as theirs so we’re speaking the same language during a real-world situation. We’re all here for the same reason. The more we know about each of the services the better we can produce, the quicker we can work, the easier our job actually becomes.”