KADENA AIR BASE, Japan -- The purpose of the U.S. military on Okinawa is clear: strengthen regional alliances, protect the Okinawan populace from potential threats and defend the U.S. and allied nations' interests in the area.
To better support that role, the U.S. Army and Air Force on Kadena Air Base teamed up for a few hours in the swelteringly humid morning air here for a first-ever joint decontamination training for personnel and military vehicles May 12.
Dressed head-to-toe in full mission oriented protective posture, or MOPP gear, the two forces worked together to demonstrate one another's techniques and processes and formulate plans for potential real-world response to chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear attacks.
"We're getting with the 18th Wing's CBRN response unit and doing a collaboration of decontamination methods," said Army Sgt. Jackie Dozier, 1-1 Air Defense Artillery Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion CBRN specialist. "We're taking our HHB decon team and actually conducting vehicle decon while the Air Force conducts personal decon. It's basically to see each other's capabilities and be able to show that we can rely on each other."
Dozier explained that his unit, though small in comparison to the number of Airmen on the installation typically handles both personnel and vehicle decontamination, while the Air Force on Kadena has multiple units to handle the different tasks.
This allows the Army to rely more heavily on the Air Force here to handle contaminated personnel to ensure the Patriot Missile batteries and the Soldiers involved can respond more quickly and efficiently to incoming threats.
"Decon training isn't just a yearly training; it's a continuous aspect," Dozier said. "We're not like the Air Force. They have a dedicated (Contamination Control Area) team. We have to pull from our personnel section, our mechanics, our battalion assets ... so we have to continuously train because that's not their specialty."
Because proficiency requires constant exposure, Staff Sgt. James Baker, 18th Civil Engineer Squadron training NCO in charge of the Readiness and Emergency Management Flight, first formulated the decontamination training in 2015.
According to Baker, the drill was worth the months of planning.
"Hope for the best but prepare for the worst," Baker said. "I feel like a lot of people settle into the exercise way of thinking, so I tried to think in terms of reality. At the end of the day, if something were to happen, we may have to rely on each other pretty heavily because we may not be able to receive help from anyone else outside of Okinawa."
Baker said he hopes to continue the joint exposure in the near future.
"I hope this training happens again in the future," he said. "There have already been discussions between both sides' leadership elements in order to continue joint training down the road to better integrate and incorporate those ideas into joint operations. That way both sides get a deeper understanding of each other's operations in a CBRN environment."
Baker explained that the two units are collaborating to potentially attend one another's service-specific CBRN training courses as well to further the interoperability between the branches.
"It's good training for our guys because they're getting to work with the Air Force, and not a lot of people get to do that," Dozier said. "I always push for joint training because you don't get to do this. It creates a more professional environment."