Guam Guard's WMD team demos gear, gadgets

by Heather Hauswirth

The Guam National Guard's 94th Civil Support - Weapons of Mass Destruction team spent the morning and afternoon at the University of Guam today presenting an overview of their capabilities for disaster response. The presentation, held at the UOG Field House in Mangilao, showcased the unit's Mobile Laboratory and several hazard assessment instruments used to detect and identify chemical, biological and radiological hazards.

Teams like these are able to deploy rapidly to assist local first responders in determining the nature of an attack, provide medical and technical advice and pave the way for the identification of follow-on state and federal military response assets. They provide initial advice on what the agent may be, assist first responders in that detection assessment process and are the first military responders on the ground, so that if additional federal resources are called into the situation, they can serve as an advance party that they can coordinate with.

The three briefings held today were geared toward informing UOG Students of technology and techniques used in emergency response as well as career opportunities available in the National Guard.