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An eight-day military training exercise in which the state coordinates with local emergency response officials will begin Thursday and use Terre Haute International Airport-Hulman Field as a forward operating base.That means the airport will initially harbor about 1,500 personnel out of an estimated 3,000 people who will participate in one of the nation’s largest training exercises for a simulated nuclear explosion. In this simulation, a 10-kiloton nuclear device explodes in Indianapolis.The training exercise is called “Vigilant Guard,” one part of a nationwide exercise called Ardent Sentry that will test the national response plan, said Lt. Col. John R. Newman of the 181st Fighter Wing.The airport will be the first destination for about 2.6 million pounds of cargo, Newman said.“That is the equivalent of 32 C-17 [military cargo airplane] missions, but that could include some C-130 or even a C-5 aircraft. This is a big deal and we are glad they are picking us to make the nation safer. While we are at the crossroads of America, we are also literally the crossroads for air space as well,” Newman said.Dr. Dorene Hojnicki, director of the Vigo County Emergency Management Agency, said the task force itself would have medical needs of its own if the nuclear explosion were real.“If you have an area that has already been hit, just like tornadoes that recently hit Kansas, there is no hospital or anything,” Hojnicki said. “We will bring medical support for our members so if they have minor medical needs, we can care for them onsite and not add to the burden of the people we are trying to assist,” she said. To read more go to:
As in the days of Noah....
