Video

Video by Spc. Ronald Bell

Army Reserve Medical Units Participate in CBRN Exercise

807th Theater Medical Command

Jan. 28, 2022 | 1:06

The 491st Medical Company Area Support (MCAS) from Santa Fe, N.M., and the 371st Minimal Care Detachment (MCD) from Twinsburg, Ohio, participated in a U.S. Army Reserve homeland operations training mission at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in association with FEMA and civil authorities Jan. 28, 2022. The 491st MCAS and the 371st MCD train alongside Chemical, Biological, Radioactive, or Nuclear (CBRN) and engineers for an emergency when CBRN is present in the environment.

Capt. Elliot Fletcher from Dallas, Texas, commander of the 491st MCAS, stated, “Our job will be to provide all medical capabilities … at the basic EMT triage level to triage patients who have been involved in a catastrophic event of that occurrence to get them stabilized and moved to the next level of care as quickly as possible while in a contaminated environment.”

“We try to keep our training as consistent as possible,” Staff Sgt. Curina Baca, a combat medic from Santa Fe, N. M. with the 491st MCAS. “The way that you train is the way you are going to end up doing it out there.”

“It’s beneficial even in training because in case anything goes wrong, we’re right there with them,” said Sgt. Kevin Sampson, a combat medic with the 371st MCD.

The 371st MCD and 491st MCAS provide Pre- and Post-Medical Monitoring for those CBRN and Engineer Soldiers who conduct reconnaissance and urban search and rescue (US&R) missions, and conduct triage operations to treat decontaminated patients.

The next training event for the 491st MCAS and 371st MCD will be Guardian Response in April at Muscatatuck, Ind. further assessing the units’ ability to respond in a simulated emergency situation. They will continue training with the 307th CBRN Company from Bell, Calif., and the 409th Engineer Vertical Construction Company from Windsor, Co., units also assigned to the U.S. Army Reserve homeland operations mission.

Units will remain as response forces for the homeland operations mission until June 1, 2023.