Air and Army members of the Oregon National Guard’s 102nd Weapons of Mass Destruction-Civil Support Team spotlighted their first response capabilities, and how those interact with local police and firefighter efforts, in a demonstration Oct. 27 in Brooks, Ore. According to a National Guard Bureau news release, the Salem-based unit reacted to a scenario in which an apparent Sarin gas cloud spread from a building onto the road. After first responder units of police and firefighters also were exposed, authorities called on the 22-member Salem-based team to help identify and eradicate the hazardous element. The Oregon unit received its certification this past summer.
Retired Col. Carlyle "Smitty" Harris, known for introducing the "tap code" by which American POWs in North Vietnam could surreptitiously communicate with one another, died July 6. Harris was brutalized by the North Vietnamese over almost eight years of captivity.