A one-kiloton bomb holds the explosive power of 1,000 pounds of TNT Estimates of the atom bomb dropped on Nagasaki put it at about 21 kilotons. Hiroshima, about 15. Last month in Butlerville, lnd., the Indiana National Guard hosted an exercise to test Guard personnel as first responders to a 10-kiloton bomb detonated in a major city.

Dubbed Operation Vigilant Guard, the scenario included screaming victims, multiple casualties and the fallout from a nuclear detonation that inundated a once peaceful shopping mall.

Victims fled from a department store, deafened by the explosion and unable to hear police instructions. A few miles away, the Indiana Guard's 53rd Civil Support Team (CST) snapped into action.

"Our primary responsibility is to assist local and state emergency personnel," said Maj. Paul Navas, the 53rd CST's commander. "When [.first responders] don't have the capabilities, that's where we come in."

The simulated blast kicked off an 11-day joint civil-military training scenario involving more than 2,000 National Guard troops mainly from Indiana, Ohio and Illinois, along with about 4,000 civilian first responders from throughout the country who descended on several sites in Indiana to participate in one of three scenarios in the largest-ever National Guard training exercise.

"We are trying to find out what we can do and what we need to work on," said Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum at the outset of the exercise. "We will stress this exercise until we fail."

Hosted by the Indiana National Guard, the Indiana Guard's sprawling Muscatatuck Urban Training Center served as a backdrop and acted as ground zero for the operation.

"There are so many things you train for with your federal mission that relate and correlate right back to what it takes to do search and rescue and set up checkpoints [at home]," said Maj. Gen. R. Martin Umbarger, Indiana adjutant general and NGAUS chairman. "Soldiers and airmen really do feel that the state mission is a pretty important role for the Guard, and it's amazing how good they are at it. "

Officials particularly designed the mission to stress the system so the first responders would need help, additional equipment and personnel. This led to the inclusion of county and state individuals. Then it spread to additional states and ultimately forced U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) to address the scenario.

Troops and civilian first responders climbed through two enormous rubble piles, one situated over an underground tunnel system, searching for casualties and pulling them to safety, then they administered medical aid and conducted decontamination operations.

Vigilant Guard actually was one of several separate scenarios last month that took place simultaneously. In fact, the exercise was just a piece of the larger U.S. Northern Command-sponsored homeland defense exercise, Ardent Sentry.

The two-week national exercise involved more than 5,000 active, Reserve and Guard troops from the United States and Canada. The larger exercise was comprised of a total of 15 scenarios representing a range of manmade and natural disasters including a maritime situation and a pandemic flu outbreak.

For the Guard, officials simulated the results of a Category 3 hurricane in the HURREX Rhode Island scenario, and others participated in a multiple terrorist attack simulation at the Northern Edge scenario in Alaska.

In Indiana, the exercise was designed to test the Guard as a military first responder, refine plans and procedures now in place that are utilized during a crisis event, explore ways to enhance homeland readiness and initiate an emergency management assistance compact (EMAC) plan.

EMAC agreements-which were utilized during the Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts in 2005 when several states sent Guard personnel and equipment to Louisiana and Mississippi-are part of public law which allow for states to provide mutual assistance in managing any natural or manmade emergency declared by the governor of a state.

General Umbarger warned, however, that EMAC is no replacement for having the required equipment on hand.

"If you don't have the vehicles, if you don't have the communication and equipment and you have to have an agreement that comes from another state, in the time it takes to get there, we would be in the 48 [to] 72-hour timeframe," he said.

The EMAC realities of the scenario hit home for the Ohio Guard during the exercise.

"Joint civil-military exercises ... offer great training not only for our citizen-soldiers and airmen, but for all first responders during domestic crises," said Maj. Gen. Gregory L. Wayt, Ohio adjutant general. "They identify shortfalls and allow us to improve communication and cooperation among agencies."

Exercise planners lent an air of realism to the scenario by hiring local residents to act as casualties. Actors were dressed in ragged clothing and made up with fake blood and props to simulate a range of injuries and were instructed to present varying levels of consciousness and cooperation.

"The simulated casualties really enhanced the training opportunity," said 1st Lt. Carl J. Roberts, operations officer for the Ohio's 52nd CST "The next step would be to have people with actual injuries. That's how good they looked."

Simulation reached new heights as General Umbarger, along with Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and personnel such as Eric Dietz, Indiana Department of Homeland Security executive director, played vital roles in the exercise.

Not only were the responders tested on the ground, the realism was enhanced as officials held mock press conferences to test communication effectiveness in the midst of chaos after such an event.

(One key factor on Sept. 11, 2001, was the inability of different agencies to communicate with one another.)

Additional military participants in the exercise included NGB, the Defense Department and the aforementioned NORTHCOM.

"This is probably one of the best homeland defense exercises that Ohio has participated in," said Brig. Gen. Jack Lee, commander of the Ohio National Guard's Joint Task Force 73. "The realism for tactical units couldn't have been better and the performance of Ohio soldiers and airmen was just phenomenal."

The effects of the exercise also reached international proportions as observers included attaches representing National Guard State Partnership Program countries. For the defense attaches, Vigilant Guard was an opportunity to highlight the American model of military assistance to civilian authorities.

Civilian agencies participating included the Indiana Department of Homeland Security, Indiana Emergency Management Agency, Marion County (Indiana) Emergency Management Agency, Marion County first responders, surrounding county first responders, hazardous materials response personnel, civilian law enforcement, Indiana Tactical Medical Emergency Services and the U.S. Department of Energy.

But as responsibility and scope of the responders hit national limits, General Blum noted that such an exercise and response begins at the local level, basically with a 911 phone call.

"The 911 call would generate a police officer, a firefighter or an emergency response person," General Blum said.

The phone lines lead first to a dispatcher, then to a series of local, county and state civilian authorities and then to the Guard. Civilian agencies always are first on the scene, and the Guard is the nation's first military responder, supporting the governor and state emergency management agency.

"It's beyond the capacity of any single agency to respond to it on their own, added Gen. Gene Renuart, NORTHCOM commander. "That's what our nation does well-it pulls together."

The ability to react and conduct such an exercise is primarily a result of recent times, however.

"You wouldn't have seen any of this one day before 9/11," General Blum said.

He also noted the addition of the National Guard Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Enhanced Response Package, which didn't exist before the terrorist attacks.

"Each and every state and territory, all 54, have an immediate quick reaction force and a rapid response force which can deliver a battalion-size, trained and ready, organization in less than 24 hours," General Blum said. "Most can deliver a company size in less than four hours anywhere in their state or territory."

But General Blum said the recipe for the Guard's response after that terrible 911 call is simple:

"If you're going to command and control anything or coordinate anything or synchronize anything, you need superb communications," he said. "You need mobility-you need trucks to bring people and equipment in and to bring people and things out."

And he said this includes everything from engineer and aviation equipment to medical supplies and a solid security force to prevent further deterioration of an already bad situation.

"The only way to do that is to have the best people you can find, train them to the most demanding standard you can and give them the best equipment you can find in the world," General Blum said. "And then you have a capability, hopefully, that can save you and your family when you need it."

Christopher Prawdzik and multiple National Guard and Defense Department reports contributed to this story.

© 2007 National Guard Association of the United States Provided by ProQuest LLC. All Rights Reserved.