Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Civil Support Teams (CST) help provide needed expertise and skills to keep citizens safe at high-profile public events and during emergencies that threaten the nation's security. June 7-11, The Indian River State College Public Safety Training Complex is hosting the Florida Army and Air National Guard as they conduct their final training to become the nation's newest CST.
After they complete this training, the Secretary of the Defense will notify Congress that the Team is ready to accomplish their designated mission. Until recently, California was the only state to have two teams. Congress has established two additional CSTs, a second team for both Florida and New York. The training at IRSC will prepare the 48th CST as Florida's second team.
The 48th CST will be training to identify, respond and contain suspected Weapons of Mass Destruction (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive weapons). During this training, the WMD-CST will participate in technical decontamination and team deployment. They will also conduct base-camp operations and medical support functions. The team will use specialized equipment including satellite, secure digital and voice communications to provide connectivity with civil and military forces from the incident site through the State to the National Command Authority during these exercises.
