Team Edwards concludes Desert Wind 10-3 Published May 6, 2010 By Stephen K. Robinson 95th Air Base Wing Public Affairs EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The week of April 26 kept many Team Edwards personnel quite busy with Desert Wind 10-3; a drill that had service members deploying, emergency medical personnel responding to a mass casualty earthquake drill and battlefield simulation training. At a remote non-disclosed location on Edwards is Camp Corum; a training facility where simulated battlefield scenarios are conducted to ready service members for deployment to current theaters of mobility. "The personnel go out to Camp Corum on Wednesday for training and return on Thursday for evaluation," said David Bookrum, 95th Air Base Wing, installation exercise program manager. "Nine-person teams work through three simulated attacks at six training stations." Each training station takes about 45 minutes. "The sole purpose for Camp Corum is to train personnel and give them the knowledge and ability to survive and operate under combat conditions," Mr. Bookrum added. The six training stations are: mission oriented protective posture level training; initial release team training; unexploded ordnance recovery team training; self-aid buddy team training; weapons familiarization training; and chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear events training. "It is important that our Airmen understand how all of these elements are inter-related and are needed for a successful mission and deployment," Mr. Bookrum said. Mission oriented protective posture, or MOPP, teaches trainees the five levels of personal protective clothing and how to don and doff that clothing. "We simulate a dirty or contaminated environment and have all trainees learn the covering and concealment and decontamination processes; the coming and going from clean-to-dirty-to-clean environments," said Mr. Bookrum. In the initial release team portion, trainees are taught how to exit their clean environment and do an initial survey sweep of the immediate area for possible dangers to personnel. "In the unexploded ordnance recovery team portion, service members are taught to locate possible unspent ordnance and how to handle it to help make the immediate area a safer environment to work in," added Mr. Bookrum. At the self-aid buddy team station, trainees are taught on how to triage, recover, treat and transport injured personnel to a safer location. "In weapons familiarization, trainees are taught the very basics of the weapons of choice; the M-16 rifle and M-9 pistol," Mr. Bookrum said. "They learn the basic operation and safety features of each weapon and how to breakdown and re-assemble each weapon." At the chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear events (CBRNE) station, trainees are taught how their previous training phases work together to support the ultimate mission of taking the fight to the enemy while recovering and treating personnel injuries. "It is of utmost importance that each trainee that leaves Camp Corum understand how theirs, and their wingman's, lives may depend on how they respond in various situations. I also take their safety, while at Camp Corum, very personal. An injury during training may be longer lasting than the few hours or several days they spend here. That is not acceptable. A productive training session is essential to make each Airman as ready as possible for their possible deployment," Mr. Bookrum said. Tucked away, somewhere on Edwards, Camp Corum is the essential training facility that prepares and provides Team Edwards' personnel the basics for a successful deployment and return home. Desert Wind 10-3 provided Team Edwards the opportunity to practice and perfect their skills to meet not only local Edwards needs but national needs as well.