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Deployed Members
Through the weekend there was a total of 47 participating OH-5 members and 1 member each from OH-6 and KY-1.   Sixteen nurses, many EMT, six doctors, and six communications members were the top attending sections.  In addition there were personnel that represented logistics, pharmacy, med. tech, dietitian, administration, command, training and other sections.

The two overnight camp outs were also attended each night by more than 30 members.

Deployment History
 At 1200 hours on Friday, April 26, team members deployed to the DMAT storage building to load equipment to be deployed to a field near the Dayton VA Hospital.  By 1400 hours crews were putting up the first tent.  A full Base of Operations was set up using five tents. 

Some of the equipment used at this spring's exercise included the following:

1 ea.  20 foot Octagon Tent for communications and command.
2 ea. 35 foot Western Shelter tents with insulation and flooring for sleeping quarters.
2 ea. 35 foot Western Shelter tents with flooring for supplies and classroom.
4 ea. 110 KBtu Clean Air Furnaces, dividers, and ductwork.
2 ea. 6 KW generators, power distribution system.
4 ea. lighting kits.
2 ea. area flood lights.
14 ea. JT-1000 radios.
1 ea. Bendix Radio, HF Radio, Satellite Terminal, GPS,   2 M radio, laptop, cellular internet.
50 ea. cots.
Assorted cooking equipment.
Other as required.

The setup on Friday was completed in beautiful weather.  Safety and other lectures were provided during the PM as well. That evening a cookout featuring hot dogs, burgers, beans and all the fixings were provided by Chuck, Bob, Kathy and other members. 

A Critical Incident Stress Management lecture, pictured below,  followed the cookout as well as AV presentations and discussions by members involved in the deployment to the Houston floods and 9-11 response by DMATs to the World Trade Center and Pennsylvania Crash sites.

Friday evening cooled down into the 40's, but not all the furnaces had been put into place as ducting still had to be located in the basic load that had been recently shipped to us.  As a result, heat was not available full time for those whose metabolism did not keep up with their heat losses. By Saturday that situation had been corrected and heat had been  supplied to all tents that were used as sleeping quarters or classrooms thanks to the great work done by Chuck and Bob, our Logistics guys. Below is the heating system setup for our two dorms.

After a breakfast of  biscuits and gravy, eggs, fruit, and oatmeal on Saturday morning lectures on subjects such as "back care" and  "personal gear and packing for a deployment" were presented. 

After experiencing an MRE for lunch, members moved on to the mock disaster exercise.  The scenario outlined was a DMAT response to a National Security event to provide mass care.  The scenario took a turn as a simulated rail accident in the area turned the team's focus from Mass Care, to START triage, and caring for Trauma Victims of the accident.  Fifty paper patients were processed through the exercise, and evacuated out for definitive care to regional hospitals. 

Pictured below, one of our newer members discovers a way to warm his MRE entree.

All three network TV stations rolled in about the time we were in the middle of our drill. Some changes in our drill were done to give the stations more access to what we were doing.  That evening one of the stations sent a live truck back to interview some of us during the 6 PM evening news cast.

Other training lectures rounded out the day.  A Power Point presentation by a member of the Ohio Task Force One was also given with numerous pictures of the WTC Ground Zero and their work there.

By Saturday evening, a light rain became an ominous sign for things to come.  At 2 AM a strong lightning storm had half of the sleepers running for better cover than tents. When a second alert sounded around 4 AM, a mandatory evacuation of the Base of Operations was ordered and most members were picked up by the litter bus. After this short storm passed by 5 AM, the camp was left in a muddy mess.  Since camp tear down was scheduled after breakfast, it was decided to start the tear down of the camp at 5 AM since everyone was awake.  By 8 :30 AM the camp was deserted and stored away again, leaving behind only the tents to dry and to be brought down at a later date.