CAMP WILLIAMS, Utah, Aug. 3, 2022 (Gephardt Daily) — The Utah National Guard’s Region VIII Homeland Response Force will conduct its 2022 readiness validation exercise at Camp Williams, today (Wednesday) through Sunday.
“This year’s evaluation exercise is particularly important, in light of the effects of COVID nation-wide, it has been more than three years since the Region VIII HRF received an evaluation,” said Lt. Col. Erick Wiedmeier, commander of the Region VIII HRF, in a prepared statement.
“We are anxious to demonstrate that our service members are trained and ready to serve the citizens of our nation during any situation.”
The HRF mission involves identifying, training, and maintaining a deployable force of 500-plus service members who are ready to respond within the continental United States in the event of a catastrophic chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or all-hazard event in order to mitigate suffering and loss of life.
Every three years, the HRF must pass an evaluation to certify the teams are mission ready, the statement says.
During the exercise, the HRF will demonstrate the ability to rapidly deploy, convoy to the incident site, set up, and conduct individual and collective tasks over a 36-hour period of time. Tasks include search and extraction, decontamination, medical triage and stabilization, and fatality search and recovery.
UTNG’s Region VIII HRF is comprised of trained and ready domestic emergency responders capable of managing a catastrophic event in the region, including Utah, Colorado, Montana, North and South Dakota, and Wyoming.
