Moody hosts ACC-wide training event

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Frances Locquiao
  • 23rd Wing Public Affairs
MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. --  Aircrew Flight Equipment members from various Air Combat Command bases recently trained together at Moody in an effort to refine processes involved in contamination mitigation.

The training event involved the use of the Lightweight Inflation Decontamination system, a portable and self-contained system designed to mitigate contamination on personnel and exterior equipment.

"The purpose of the event is to standardize the techniques and procedures involved in chemical neutralization of the aircrew ensemble throughout ACC," said Master Sgt. Charles Stephens, 23rd Operations Support Squadron AFE superintendent and host of the event. "Our eventual goal is to standardize the process Air Force-wide. If we deploy or go on temporary duty assignments together, there won't be any confusion because we will all be on the same page."

There are four stages involved in the LID system. During some stages, the contaminated individual is sprayed with a mixture of water and bleach in addition to the gradual removal of their equipment.

"The Airmen are given the opportunity to work through each stage together," said Kevin Turner, ACC AFE chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear analyst. "This allows them to pinpoint areas of improvement as well as find processes that worked well for everyone."

The participants were taught techniques to effectively process personnel through the LID system.

"We emphasized the importance of conducting slow and methodical techniques as they moved the members through each stage," said Sergeant Stephens. "These techniques help to control the spread of contaminants so that by the end of the process, aircrew members are safe to move around."

To provide a more hands-on, realistic training experience, several individuals volunteered to play aircrew members and wore the full aircrew chemical defense ensemble.

One of the volunteers, Airman 1st Class Kenny O'Brien, 38th Rescue Squadron pararescueman, was able to observe how the participants processed him through the system.

"It's good to see these Airmen are prepared to take care of aircrew in the event of a chemical attack," he said. "They were very thorough and made sure I was able to safely remove my gear without contaminating my body."

Moody's AFE members conduct these types of training every Friday, but many of them who participated also gained other valuable knowledge from the event.

"This training has been awesome because I learned specific techniques that I didn't know about or haven't used," said Senior Airman Kevin Ray, 23rd OSS AFE team member. "It was in-depth and provided us with information that we could use to make our processes run smoother. We were also able to catch our mistakes and learn from them."

Currently, Moody AFE members use the Consolidated Aircrew Processing system, but will soon have their very own LID system to train with.