The Alaskan portion of the large-scale Ardent Sentry/Northern Edge 2007 exercise currently running in several states comprised a mass casualty event bringing together civilian first responders and Air Force and Army emergency response specialists and “victims.” A US Northern Command release states that some 5,000 personnel participated in the event at the North Pole (Alaska) Refinery Complex. Government and civic leaders watched the action.
Over the past 20 years, military explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) technicians have become very good at using high-tech tools like robots, communications jammers, smartphones, and next-generation bomb suits to disable improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in crowded urban environments. When it comes to a possible conflict with a near-peer adversary like…