A CBRN Awareness for First Responders Course was organized by the JCBRN Defence COE at the NATO-ICI Regional Centre in the State of Kuwait from 18 to 22 March 2018. This was a follow up to the Comprehensive CBRN Incident Commanders’ Course which was run in December 2017. The course was again supported by the NATO Science for Peace and Security Programme.
The course was opened by the NATO-ICI Regional Centre Manager Mr. Fawaz Abdulaziz AlOthman who highlighted the increasing cooperation between NATO, the State of Kuwait and the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) countries. He also stated that this year the Centre is also opened up for use by other countries neighbouring the State of Kuwait. Twenty nine participants from the Kuwaiti Ministries of Defence, Interior and Health, the Kuwait National Guard, the Fire Service Directorate, the Civil Aviation Directorate, the Kuwait National Petroleum Company, the Petrochemical Industries Company, the United Arab Emirates’ Ministry of Defence, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defence and the Kingdom of Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior attended this course.
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| Classroom | IAP |
The purpose of the course was to provide training for interagency response representatives in the organization of an effective response to potential chemical, biological and radiological incidents. The course was scenario driven with introduction to response phases and activities following actual activities by the participants and included Counter Improvised Explosive Device (C-IED), Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD), CBRN Defence, as well as other relevant capabilities.
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| Syndicate work | Debriefing |
The course helped participants to improve their current preparedness and to enhance the ability of their emergency response organizations to meet their performance objectives.
Based on discussions with students, the course met its learning objectives. In particular the students expressed satisfaction at being involved in practical and realistic training which led to the development of effective Incident Action Plan which allowed them to manage combined chemical and explosives incidents.
Cooperation between the JCBRN Defence COE and the NATO-ICI Regional Centre could continue to develop by the former’s participation in an Advisory Support Team to assist the Kuwaiti authorities in the development of their national CBRN response capacity.
Please see also our Centre’s Training Portal for additional information about further courses organized by the JCBRN Defence COE.
Text: LTC Jiří CHRÁSTEK, (CZE A)
Photo: LTC Jiří CHRÁSTEK (CZE A), LTC Jarosław ŻOCHOWSKI, (POL A)