UrbanShield 2012

Betsy and I had an amazing experience Saturday. We volunteered for UrbanShield 2012. I can't get the pictures from my phone to my computer, but here is a link.
http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/austin/crews-stage-attack-at-expo-center

This is a disaster training exercise for first responders and others, including various fire departments, the Texas National Guard, bomb squad, and SWAT.

We were advised to wear clothing that could be stained or cut off, and to wear swimwear under our clothes because we would be "decontaminated". We were also advised to bring a change of clothes, since decontamination involved getting wet. The clothing could be stained because they were applying "mulage", otherwise known as fake injuries, to some volunteers. We were also warned that we could be transported to various hospitals around the city.

We checked in about 11:30 that morning, and in that process, we were asked if we wanted to be "instigators". Hell yes! We are both nice people and were a little worried about acting mean and belligerent, as were most people in our group of 17.

The "attack" was scheduled to begin at 2:00, so we were given free lunch, and basically sat and waited for  about an hour. During that time, we were watching the makeup artist applying the fake injuries. There was a blanket on the floor with body parts. We watched one person trying to put his own shoe on this fake leg. Another leg was charred bone to about mid-thigh, then burned meat down to the foot. It was surreal seeing people walking around carrying an arm or leg. You can see some of the fake injuries in the link.

Our group leader was a Texas National Guard member named "Collie". He is also a police officer in the Dallas area. He was kind of a bad-ass, not a big man, but VERY strong and beefy looking. He told us the officers were not allowed to have their guns during the exercise, but they were able to use their tasers, batons, and hand-cuffs. It was our choice how far we wanted to push these guys and girls. He said, "If the officer tells you to back up, do it. If he tells you to get on the ground, do it." This is the point that the officer is beginning to get serious and agitated. The purpose of our group was to agitate and instigate. Basically be the really obnoxious people that always appear in any large crowd. And, the officers didn't know that we were going to be doing this. Of course, the commanders knew, but the regular officers didn't know.

At 2:00 a bomb was supposed to go off, and we were told our job was to "storm the command post". "Be nosy, be obnoxious, ask a bunch of questions", etc. We also exited the building from a different door than the other volunteers. So, the bomb goes off. It was sounded like a big firecracker, no smoke, fire, or anything, and it was time to start acting. We walked through the building yelling "fire", asking what happened? There were 17 of us, so we were pretty loud, and the officers in the building looked very amused. We walked outside and headed toward the command post.

Betsy and I made it about 100 feet inside the yellow police tape and a cop car drove up with siren and lights flashing and stopped us. We were "arrested". He actually hand-cufffed us together. We kept talking and asking stupid questions, and he threatened to put us in the cop car if we didn't stop talking. We were actually kind of nervous, so we kept talking and asking questions, because this was supposed to be "pretend", although this SWAT guy didn't act like he was pretending. He finally took the hand-cuffs off, and thanked us for participating in the exercise. And of course, pointed us in the direction he wanted us to walk.

We gathered back with our group, and Collie told us to walk around the side and try to get all the way through the command post to the road behind it. And we did! Two of the guys took off running straight through, so we linked arms with another woman and just walked, stopping to look at things, talking like a bunch of old women. We were almost at the back of the command post and there was a group of TX Nat Guard guys having a meeting. The commander slyly walked up to us and said "don't go over to that tent and try to look inside", with a nod and a wink. So that's what we did. The regular officers looked amused, but they reluctantly stood up and blocked our entrance to the tent. A couple of other ones corralled us and escorted us out of the command post. As we were coming out, we got "arrested" again, by the same officer that hand-cuffed us the first time. He told us we weren't going to be cuffed, but go sit down and we were out of the exercise for the rest of the day. A few minutes later, Collie came and got us.

During this time, the National Guard had extended their tape, and had their people dressed in hazmat suits lined up along the "fence". So we spent several minutes "acting a fool" in front of them. We asked "Why are you wearing suits and we aren't? Should we have the suit too?" Another commander told us to not try to pose for pictures with any of the officers, (with a wink and a nod), so that's what we did.

A volunteer from a different group walked up and asked if we were the "vomitors, or the pee-ers". We told him we were the "agitators". He walked off and a few minutes later, he was acting really sick and trying to get help from the people in haz-mat suits. So, we walked over and starting talking a lot to them, asking stupid questions, telling the girl that was attempting to help him, "oooo, isn't he cute? What's wrong? Can we help? What are you doing?"

Collie gathered us together and said we did a good job, but the officers did a better job, and we were done for the day, but, as a group we could walk around and see what else was happening. We were near the building watching the fire trucks driving in. Ladder Truck 17, was being set up as the decontamination hose. They were putting the ladder up, and attaching a fire hose to the end to make a "shower" to walk through. Our group got a request from the assistant coordinator to try to keep the water from getting turned on. We were supposed to go in groups of two or three, and try to simply touch Ladder Truck 17. Betsy and I made it. We touched the front bumper. We were going to try to sit on the bumper, but, the fireman corralled us again, and escorted us away from the truck.

We re-grouped and Collie told us all to link arms, all 17 of us, and walk toward the fire trucks to see how far we would get. We linked arms and started walking and yelling, like protesters would. We didn't get very far when a guy in a hazmat suit put his arms out and blocked four of us. The other 13 made it a little further, but not by much. That was the last thing we did as instigators.

We had a lot of fun, since it was only pretend. It is not often that you get to act like a total fool, with no repercussions. We also learned that if a major disaster does occur, you are basically on your own. The "wounded and dead" were left sitting for at least 45 minutes, without any assistance. Try to take care of yourself, and go away from the crowd.

I must say the officers did a really good job against us. Hopefully the exercise helped them learn a thing or two. And we got a free t-shirt.