Thursday morning, people who came out to Fort Hood were able to witness the command’s specialized skill sets in support of its enduring mission requirements to Homeland Security and the Department of Defense.
"This is our nation's capability. It happens to be organic in the Army, but this is the nation's only capability of dealing with this. We work extensively with our inner agencies, federal agencies and state and local responders in practicing how we would respond both here in the United States and outside the United States," Commanding General William King of the 20th Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosives (CBRNE) said.
A Nuclear Disablement Team, an Explosive Ordnance Disposal team and a CBRNE response team all conducted detailed demonstrations in underground tunnels that stretch for a mile-and-a-half on post.
Captain Daniel Berkowitz, based out of Fort Irwin in California, attended Thursday's demonstrations.
"The big take-away is that we can, if we know more about what these soldiers do, we can set conditions at the National Training Center to better replicate a real world operating environment," Captain Berkowitz said.
Thursday's capabilities exercises also included a number of displays ranging from IED disarming to the 1st Area Medical Laboratory.
"We are the Army's only medical deployable unit," Sgt. Mario Johnson said. "We have 28 organic soldiers that's in our unit, and we also have 13 proface soldiers that we can get from various medical research facilities around the United States."
General King believes this training is beneficial not only to his troops and other leaders throughout the U.S., but to civilians as well.
"I hope what they get out of this is reassurance and confidence that their nation is taking care of them and preparing for dealing with these kind of threats," General King said.
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