CAMP HALE, Colo. (3/2/14) – Company B, 5th Battalion, 19th
Special Forces Group (Airborne) of the Colorado Army National Guard partnered
with Lake County Search and Rescue and elements from Eagle, Summit and Larimer
counties in order to conduct an interagency search and rescue exercise March
2.
Simulating a large-scale avalanche, the exercise took place
at Camp Hale, 15 miles north of Leadville, Colo.
Rescue teams recovered simulated avalanche victims using beacons and K-9 rescue teams, then rendered medical care and evacuated survivors. The exercise was conducted as a simulated National Guard civil support mission during the company’s annual training period.
For two days prior to Sunday’s exercise, Lake County Search-and-Rescue personnel instructed the Special Forces Soldiers in avalanche awareness, search techniques, low-angle rescue, casualty evacuation and other critical skills. This exercise enhanced the interoperability between the Colorado National Guard unit and state search and rescue agencies.
Company B’s Title 32, Colorado-based mission is to provide
all-weather ground search-and-rescue capabilities to civil authorizes when
requested. This training is particularly relevant due to historic avalanche
conditions in Colorado resulting in eight deaths to date during the winter of
2013-2014.
As stated by Mike McHargue, the Director for the Office of
Emergency Management in Lake County, “Training with the National Guard was very
beneficial and timely given the recent avalanche west of Twin Lakes, which
resulted in two fatalities and three injuries.”
Due to the overall success of the exercise, Mr. McHargue
went on to say that “We (Lake County) look forward to further developing the
relationship with the National Guard as additional training opportunities present
themselves.”
For the Special Forces Soldiers, the training went beyond
preparing to assist local authorities.
According to Major M (names of Special Forces operators were
removed for operational security), commander of Company B, “this training has
increased our survivability in the harsh and unpredictable conditions that
Special Forces units typically encounter overseas. When we receive a mission,
we must be able to respond regardless of the environment. By conducting
this training in conjunction with local search and rescue, it has also
increased our capability to augment local search-and-rescue during a
large-scale avalanche event here in the Colorado, as well.”
Flight for Life was coordinated and planned for the
exercise, but was grounded due to weather.
More pictures:
