Start of busy season at Camp Atterbury

At a military base near Edinburgh, soldiers from across the country are training for how to handle a potentially devastating situation — a nuclear blast on U.S. soil.

The training exercises began April 7 and will continue through April 27 at Camp Atterbury in Edinburgh, and further to the south at Muscatatuck Urban Training Center east of North Vernon. More than 5,000 soldiers from Indiana, Michigan and from elsewhere across the U.S. have come to Atterbury and Muscatatuck to participate in annual training exercises called Vibrant Response and Guardian Response.

The goal is to prepare commanders and soldiers to be able to respond to emergencies, from natural disasters, such as flooding or hurricanes, to man-made threats, such as a nuclear bomb detonating.

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But that training is just one of several that will bring thousands of soldiers to the area, adding more traffic to southern Johnson County roads and bringing more visitors to the area. Since mobilization training at Camp Attebury ended in 2012, the focus has shifted to hosting training exercises. In 2016, for example, the military base had about 13,000 troops take part in a variety of exercises.

Additional training exercises planned in the coming months at Camp Atterbury include Warefighter, a training involving officers commanding a simulated battle, and Cyber Shield, which focuses on preparing to defend against a cyber attack.

This year’s training exercise involved a simulation of a nuclear device exploding in a Seattle suburb. At Camp Atterbury, military commanders relayed orders and worked to help coordinate with other participants role-playing as state, local and federal responders. Meanwhile, 30 miles southeast at Muscatatuck Urban Training Center, soldiers trained with search and rescue teams, decontamination and other situations involving hazardous materials.

Three separate task forces, comprised of members of the U.S. Department of Defense, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Indiana National Guard, Michigan National Guard and other state local and federal agencies, took part in the training, with about 5,000 people involved in the effort, a news release said.

The three task forces set up their headquarters in Camp Atterbury for the exercise, where officers and commanders there gave orders to soldiers taking part in practical drills at Muscatatuck.

In one scenario, one of the main challenges commanders were working with was the amount of injured people, estimated at 50,000, which was much higher than the number of available hospital beds in the area near the simulated blast, said Maj. Aaron Proffitt, of the Michigan Army National Guard.

That meant they had to research how to get additional transportation to get to treatment facilities in nearby communities, he said.

Another mock scenario for soldiers was a simulated train derailment, complicated by the presence of a tank of chlorine that was leaking, said Maj. Audrey Dean, an officer with the National Guard Bureau.

That meant everyone responding to the incident had to conduct the drill in protective gear, she said.

These types of exercises are an essential part of being prepared for an actual disaster, said Maj. Gen. Michael Stone, of the Michigan Army National Guard. The expectation from the American people is for a swift response and immediate assistance in these types of disasters, he said.

Lt. Col. Paul South of the Indiana National Guard, who was serving as the chief of staff for one of the task forces, said one of the main challenges the exercise presents is the need to coordinate between so many different agencies that don’t typically work together. They have to determine who has the authority to give certain orders, where resources should be allocated and how to prioritize rescue efforts.

Paul cited the devastating flooding that hit Indiana in 2008 as an example of one of the scenarios that this type of training would help prepare people to respond to.