TOLEDO, Ohio — A recent training exercise in Northwest Ohio involving the Ohio National Guard's 52nd Civil Support Team (Weapons of Mass Destruction) and the U.S. Coast Guard helped better develop a homeland security partnership along the shorelines of Lake Eire.
On June 6, members of the 52nd CST (WMD) trained with members of the Great Lakes Marine Safety Unit (MSU), U.S. Coast Guard, Toledo, on vessel boarding techniques and general maritime operations. Training the 52nd in maritime operations is important, since Ohio's northern border stretches over 312 miles of Lake Erie shoreline.
The Coast Guard is a unique entity among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission — with jurisdiction in both domestic and international waters — as well as providing environmental protection in the waters that Coast Guard members patrol. In the event of a CBRNE (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and high-yield Explosive) threat, the Coast Guard would rely on assistance from other agencies, like the 52nd. The Coast Guard will initiate a joint hazardous incident response to assess and respond to a possible terrorist incident offshore or on a ship underway.
"Responding to an incident on a ship is a lot harder than it looks," said Capt. Bill Logan, 52nd deputy commander. "Understanding maritime terminology and general construction of a ship is very important when negotiating your way around the vessel."
According to Lt. j.g. Corry Hoffman, Toledo MSU boarding officer, the Great Lakes has a tremendous amount of daily shipping traffic, and it is the Coast Guard's job to oversee the safety and inspection of all lake vessels. The 52nd spent the day training with their coastal counterparts to increase familiarization of each other's operations.
Much of the day involved tactical training on vessel boarding, using specialized detection equipment and sharing common operational practices between the 52nd and the Coast Guard. Nationwide, civil support teams play an active part in the U.S. National Response Framework, developing emergency response procedures and training doctrine to be prepared to handle such situations.
"The big push for our teams is to transition from a solely weapons of mass destruction team to an all-hazards response," Logan said. "This kind of training will help us better improve our all hazards-maritime response capability." |
