At a base in Brno, Czechia, NATO troops have been training with live chemical agents, to prepare for real-world chemical attacks.
Synopsis
Live chemical agents were used in a NATO course to test the skills of a group of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) defence specialists.
Using live chemical agents for training is unique to the Joint CBRN Defence Centre of Excellence in Czechia, offering a chance for all 20 participants to experience the psychological challenges involved in handling them. By using actual poisons and nerve agents, rather than simulated non-toxic alternatives, participants must adhere to rigorously precise workflows and protective equipment standards. After five days of exercises and evaluations, the participants leave with the confidence and competence necessary for NATO troops to respond effectively in real CBRN incidents.
Footage includes shots of US and Italian course participants, alongside Czech and Swedish instructors, training on simulated and live chemical agents plus soundbites from Colonel Michael Firmin, Education, Training and Evaluation Department Director at the Joint CBRN Defence Centre of Excellence, Warrant Officer Roman Schindler, chief course instructor, and Senior Warrant Officer Mikael Isaksson, course instructor.
Transcript
---SHOTLIST—
(00:00) WIDE SHOT - COURSE PARTICIPANTS HEAD TOWARDS THE TRAINING AREA
(00:08) MEDIUM SHOT - COURSE PARTICIPANTS ARE BRIEFED ON THE DAY’S EXERCISE
(00:15) SLOW MO SHOT (MUTE) - PARTICIPANTS ENTER THE TRAINING AREA
(00:31) MEDIUM SINGLES - PARTICIPANTS ARE BRIEFED ON SAFETY PROCEDURES
(00:45) SLOW MO (MUTE) - PARTICIPANTS PREPARE FOR THE FIRST EXERCISE
(00:57) VARIOUS SHOTS - PARTICIPANTS PUT THEIR PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT ON
(01:23) GOPRO SHOT - PARTICIPANTS CHECK THE SEAL OF THEIR GAS MASKS BY PUTTING THEIR HEADS INTO A CHAMBER FILLED WITH CS GAS
(01:41) SLOW MO SHOT (MUTE) - PARTICIPANTS ENTER THE ‘HOT ZONE’ IN FULL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT
(01:49) VARIOUS SHOTS - INSTRUCTORS CHECK THE PARTICIPANTS’ PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT
(02:20) WIDE SHOT - INSTRUCTOR BRIEFS PARTICIPANTS ON THE EXERCISE
(02:37) VARIOUS SHOTS - PARTICIPANTS TEST ORDNANCE FOR CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES
(03:24) VARIOUS SHOTS - PARTICIPANTS DECONTAMINATE PIG SKINS
(03:43) VARIOUS SHOTS - PARTICIPANTS TAKE SAMPLES OF CONTAMINANTS
(04:08) VARIOUS SHOTS - PARTICIPANTS DECONTAMINATE A CAR
(04:27) GOPRO SHOT - A PARTICIPANT DECONTAMINATES OOTS AND GLOVES
(04:34) SLOWMO SHOT (MUTE) - A PARTICIPANT DECONTAMINATES OOTS AND GLOVES
(04:42) VARIOUS SHOTS - AN OBSERVER MONITORS THE PARTICIPANTS’ SAFETY VIA CCTV CAMERAS
(04:55) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) PETTY OFFICER FIRST CLASS FRANCIS CAIN, US NAVY
“Basically, we had two munitions that were leaking some sort of chemical and essentially what we were trying to do was determine what kind of chemical it was, so detecting it with different types of tools. Then once we got two positive detections with two different technologies, we moved on to sampling. Soil sample and then samples from the actual source of contamination.”
(05:21) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) COLONEL MICHAEL FIRMIN, EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EVALUATION DEPARTMENT DIRECTOR AT THE JOINT CBRN DEFENCE CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE
“With what is happening in Ukraine and the current geopolitical environment, it’s become evident that the threat of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear use is very real and the ability of the warfighter to react to that and fight through that is of vital importance to NATO.”
(05:42) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) COLONEL MICHAEL FIRMIN, JCBRN DEFENCE EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EVALUATION DIRECTOR
“Today we are doing live agent training, so one of the things I mentioned prior was the fact that the Joint CBRN Defence Centre of Excellence is located in the Czech Republic because of assets such as this facility right here, Kamená Chalupa, to do live agent training. It is something unique within the Czech Republic; there are only a few other places that can do training such as this, and it provides our CBRN defence experts real live agent training of both persistent and non-persistent nerve and blister agents in an outdoor environment. It’s a very unique and very worthwhile training that allows them to gain the confidence that they would need to go ahead and do operations within a chemical contaminated environment.”
(06:26) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) WARRANT OFFICER ROMAN SCHINDLER, CHIEF COURSE INSTRUCTOR
“Live agent training is very unique among our courses because it helps us to build confidence in our individual protective equipment, as well as it reduces the stress of people if anything like this happens in real life. That’s why we use real live agents and not only simulants, because we need people to be psychologically challenged. All of the toxic compounds, biological agents and radiological and nuclear material have a capability to cause mass destruction to populations, to the environment, and it can destabilise societies. So the counter-measures are important, because not only in classical, normal, conventional war, these compounds are very often used in asymmetric warfare, which helps the weaker, non-state parties to induce fear and stress on governments and its people. And counter-measures, like decontamination, reconnaissance, the ability to counter these compounds, will help us to keep the population safeguarded.”
(07:42) SOUNDBITE (ENGLISH) SENIOR WARRANT OFFICER, MIKAEL ISAKSSON, COURSE INSTRUCTOR
“We can go back to 2018 with Salisbury, and we had the Novichok incident. Then we had 2020 with Navalny. So in recent times, an adversary has used chemical weapons that are prohibited. They’ve even signed a treaty to destroy all of these compounds, and they’re still using it. So this is a major problem. And these are new compounds that we have to train the whole of the NATO structure to handle also.”
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