DoD PHOTO Army Sgt. 1st Class Pablo A. Picacio was one of more than 4,000 military and civilian participants who recently participated in the joint training exercise “Vibrant Response,” at Camp Atterbury’s Joint Maneuver Training Center in southern Indiana. CAMP ATTERBURY, Ind. -- “There’s just been a terrorist attack of a 10-ton nuclear device explosion in downtown Indianapolis, and the surviving town on the outskirts needs immediate emergency aid response,” was the call that jolted the son of a Kempner man into action.

Luckily for Army Sgt. 1st Class Pablo A. Picacio, son of Santos G. Picacio Sr., the call wasn’t for a real terrorist attack, but for a federal emergency response exercise called “Vibrant Response.”

The week-long exercise simulated a terrorist nuclear attack in the United States, and required the nation’s military from all services, along with local and state first responders to quickly be put into action.

Picacio was one of more than 4,000 military and civilian participants who recently converged on Camp Atterbury’s Joint Maneuver Training Center along with the nearby Muscatatuck Urban Training Center, and its surrounding communities in southern Indiana to test their emergency response capabilities.

“We are here to train in a multiechelon, joint service, civil support operation in the event that there is a catastrophic event on our homeland,” said Picacio, who is a military police platoon sergeant with the Task Force 716, Fort Hood.

“As military police officers, we are here to assist the state and local authorities in assisting the community and help save lives.”

With an underground tunnel system, nine miles of roads, and more than 120-plus buildings, which included a hospital, nursing home, parking garages, power plant, schools and a police station, Muscatatuck was the perfect location for the training event.

Burning vehicles and garbage, rubbage piles, emergency sirens, and lots of smoke from fog machines and smoke candles made the training center look like it had indeed been the site of a nuclear disaster.

Role players were hired to portray survivors, and moulage experts made the injuries and ailments that they would receive by surviving such an incident look as realistic as possible.

Assessment, search and rescue, decontamination, medical, aviation, engineering and logistics missions were performed by military teams that surveyed the damage, erected triage centers, set up decontamination sites, and performed radiation tests to ensure it was safe for service members to begin work.

Search and rescue, and decontamination teams removed civilians and casualties from the devastated area. Affected victims were decontaminated and then triaged and provided with medical care.

As ambulances and helicopters stood by, the medical team coordinated ground evacuation, hospitalization, veterinary care, preventive medicine, blood distribution and medical logistical support of patients.

Military members constantly train for battle in a foreign country, but making sure that they are prepared to respond on American soil is also important. Training for such a catastrophe has been deemed mandatory by U.S. military officials.

“Leading up to the exercise of this scale, our unit has prepared and trained based off of the guidance of our task force command in order to be successful at the mission at hand,” said Picacio, who graduated in 1994 from Junction City High School, Kan., and received a bachelor’s degree in 2008 from Troy University, Ala.

“Our task force command and our unit commanders at our home station guided us and gave us the proper assets and support to accomplish any task that we might encounter during this exercise.”

When a natural disaster occurs, local city and county first responders are the first on the scene. But an event like a nuclear detonation would quickly require regional and national responders to assist.

For Picacio and the others, an exercise like “Vibrant Response” allows everyone to work out any kinks that may arise at an inopportune time during a real disaster. Valuable lessons were learned each day including communication, logistical, and coordination issues.

It also helps Picacio and the others understand how federal, local, and state agencies become one to complete a mission of that magnitude.

“This is our land. The reason we wear our uniform and wear our nation’s colors on our right sleeve is the only reason this is of importance,” said Picacio, who has been in the military for 11 years. “We have soldiers defending our nation and the way we live, both foreign and domestic. The coordination required between the military services and the civil authorities to put together this exercise results in a great experience that not every soldier will have the opportunity to experience.”

Hopefully for Picacio and all of the participants, lessons learned during “Vibrant Response” will never have to be used. But in case they do get that call one day, they will be prepared to respond.