Published May 2004 — Download PDF of the original newspaper column
Byrd's-Eye View By U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd Top Flight Homeland Defense Training in West Virginia
For three years, military specialists, National Guardsmen, and local emergency responders have traveled to West Virginia to take advantage of training opportunities available nowhere else in the country. The Center for National Response, located at the Memorial Tunnel in Kanawha County, customizes training scenarios to provide lifelike situations to test and improve the response from police, fire, and emergency medical teams. Military units have taken advantage of the tunnel s structure to prepare for the caves and mountains of Afghanistan. Operated by the West Virginia National Guard, the tunnel has proved itself a valuable piece of security efforts at home and abroad. The Virtual Medical Campus, a collaborative effort between West Virginia University and the West Virginia National Guard, provides local emergency responders and medical officials with information on how to identify, treat, and contain any possible chemical or biological terrorist attack. This system is designed to link doctors and emergency personnel at the point of an attack with specialists who can immediately identify steps to take in the event of a terrorist attack to protect people living and working nearby. The Regional Training Institute at Camp Dawson in Preston County gives National Guardsmen and other military personnel the opportunity to train for a range of important missions, including special operations and defense against weapons of mass destruction. I am proud to have been able to assist in these initiatives, adding more than $43 million to legislation to bring these projects to life. Now, recognizing the value of these facilities to the country and their potential for the future, the U.S. National Guard Bureau has announced that West Virginia will be the site for the first comprehensive National Guard homeland defense training facility. This new center will be based at Camp Dawson and will build on the homeland security training facilities already in place in West Virginia. This new center will mean new resources and new responsibilities for Camp Dawson. While the standard for excellence has always been high, this decision to make Camp Dawson the first National Guard Joint Training Center (JTC) for Homeland Defense raises the bar to a much more demanding level. Long before September 11, 2001, West Virginia recognized the dangers of potential terrorist attacks here at home and quickly moved to train Guardsmen and first responders. That work has paid off with valuable lessons learned -- lessons that we can share with the rest of the nation. By training today, we can save lives tomorrow. May 19, 2004