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ZAVENTEM, Belgium — For the fourth year in a row, the 773rd Civil Support Team, 7th Civil Support Command, based in Kaiserslautern, participated in a joint training exercise alongside the Zaventem Fire Department here June 2 to 8.
Among the participants at the event were the 196th Medical Support Unit, 7th CSC, and members of the 720th Explosive Ordinance Disposal Company, 16th Sustainment Brigade, 21st Theater Sustainment Command based in Baumholder, along with members of Army North from San Antonio, Texas.
“Right now, the exercise is phenomenal,” said Staff Sgt. Sean A. Ripley, team leader with the 720th EOD. “Their (773rd CST) professionalism with chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear is unmatched (in) the way they conduct themselves in a chemical environment. We are learning how each unit conducts different tasks and are being able to build off of this to be able to work together in the future.”
The first two days consisted of working a CBRN mitigation situation with several vehicles piled atop one another, controlling a contaminate spill and learning how to contain a flashover fire situation in an enclosed space by entering a 40-foot, ignited shipping container.
“This is really awesome,” said 1st Lt. Aurora K. Williamson, a health care administrator with the 196th Medical Support Unit, 7th CSC. “This (training) is outside of our whole realm of being in a hospital or a medical setting, and it is really beneficial for us to partner with the 773rd CST and the Zaventem Fire Department and do things that we would not normally do.
“The 196th MSU is supporting the 773rd CST with medical staff during this exercise and have been doing some hands on fire suppression training with the Belgium fire department along with going on some ambulance runs,” Williamson continued.
At the end of the weeklong training, American, Belgian and EOD partners knew they could count on each other to support and mitigate a possible dangerous situation involving hazardous materials.
“I think that a good cooperation not only depends on each unit knowing their job, but even more important, that everyone is disciplined in the workings of the other team’s operations,” said Lt. Mattias Detobel, a formation and operations manager with the Belgian fire department. “This week has been about building bridges of knowledge, partnership and not to forget the building of friendship between our fire department and the 773rd CST.”
