Hanscom bioenvironmental engineer helps bring CBRN Challenge title to AFMC

  • Published
  • By By 1st Lt. Geoff Buteau
  • 66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
HANSCOM AFB, Mass. --  A Hanscom bioenvironmental engineer was part of the Air Force Materiel Command team that won the second annual Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Challenge at the Brooks City-Base, Texas, from Dec. 10 to 14.

Capt. Joanna Rentes, 66th Medical Operations Squadron chief of Bioenvironmental Engineering, made the trip to Brooks with four others from across AFMC to compete in the Air Force CBRN Challenge against Air Combat Command, Air Mobility Command, Air Education and Training Command, Air Force Special Operations Command, Air Force Space Command, Pacific Air Forces, U.S. Air Forces in Europe and the Air National Guard.

"Her professionalism and expertise, along with her hard work and dedication, allowed the [AFMC] team to meld and become highly operational in no time," said Lt. Col. Jay Cloutier, 66th Medical Group commander.

Bioenvironmental Engineering personnel conducted an AFMC-only CBRN Challenge here at Hanscom in October to determine who would represent the command as the "All-AFMC" team at the Air Force level CBRN Challenge at Brooks' Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine's Expeditionary Medical Support site.

The AFMC team was comprised of five Bioenvironmental Engineers from different bases who were named outstanding performers at each individual base CBRN challenge. "[Our team] had never worked together or met before. We met for the first time two days before the competition started to do some team building activities. Approximately half of the teams competing were assembled with people from different installations across their MAJCOM," Captain Rentes said.

The Sunday before the competition began, all teams participated in a modified fitness test, Captain Rentes said. "The following day the CBRN response portion of the challenge began; activities completed each day depended on your team's individual schedule."

The nine teams competed in six scenarios, each one lasting three hours, said Tech. Sgt. Shawn Petro, a USAFSAM bioenvironmental engineering instructor at the competition who was quoted in an Air Force News article in December. Included in the scenarios was a chemical attack on an installation where the competitors had to assess the health risk to the affected base and a "dirty" vehicle-born improvised explosive device detonation that caused casualties. Competitors also had to correctly identify chemical and biological samples, and demonstrate their CBRN knowledge through game-show-style quizzes, said Sergeant Petro.

"Throughout the competition, we weren't given team scores or standings. So, we don't know what parts we did the best on," Captain Rentes said.

The cadre at the competition, however, credited the AFMC-win to their excellent team work and uniform approach to executing scenarios, the captain said.

The captain said that this competition challenged them to implement lessons learned from the individual base challenges to help their team be successful. "Specifically, we fine-tuned our knowledge and proficiency with some of our response equipment, which will help all of us to be better emergency responders," she said.

"It is no small feat bringing a team together from five different AFMC bases and to become highly efficient and operational in a minimal amount of time," said Colonel Cloutier, "yet alone win the entire competition."

"[Her performance] just shows her outstanding leadership and professionalism," he said.

Senior Airman Chris Meeks, 66th Medical Operations Squadron Bioenvironmental Engineering journeyman, was also selected for the "All-AFMC" team but did not attend the competition at Brooks.

The winner from the first CBRN Challenge held September 2006, Air Force Space Command, finished in second place.