NEW TRAINING FACILITY FOR CBRE DEFENCE GROUP

For Second Sergeant (2SG) Victor Michael, travelling from place to place for training used to be quite time-consuming.

But with the new Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Explosives (CBRE) Training Village, all the training can conducted more efficiently and effectively at one common location.

Located at Seletar Camp, the training village enables the conduct of specialised training against evolving CBRE threats.

It is housed within a single building and made up of modular facilities configured to realistically replicate possible operational scenarios.

With such capabilities, CBRE defence training can be carried out safely without compromising on the realism of possible situations.

This is important as CBRE defence training often involves the use of chemical and biological simulants, as well as the live-firing of specialised CBRE weapons.

Some of the key facilities in the village include the Climatic Chamber Training Facility, Special Operations Training Facility, and the Preventive and High-risk Search Training Facility.

Each will hone the skills of the CBRE responders on how to react and handle various CBRE threats.

2SG Michael felt that the Special Operations Training Facility, which is fitted with rope ladders and cargo nets, trains the responders on their reaction, as well as skills to ascend and descend from ships and aircraft.

"Roping will be very useful. It brings us from point to point very fast and we can respond even faster," said the 28-year-old, who is from the CBRE Defence Group (CBRE DG).

Lieutenant-Colonel (LTC) Tay Boon Huat, Head CBRE Training Centre, said: "CBRE operations are in fact very tactical and very specialised.
"It is for this reason that we think there's a need for a specially built facility to create a realistic scenario to have operational settings to allow our troops to handle CBRE threats. It gives us a creative and efficient way of utilising very limited SAF resources."

Chief of Army Major-General (MG) Desmond Kuek, commissioned the training village on 8 February 2007, as part of the formal inauguration of the CBRE DG.

To commemorate the inauguration, MG Kuek handed a symbol of command, to Colonel Ho Kong Wai, Commander CBRE DG.

CBRE DG was established in 2005 with the integration of the operations and training of Chemical, Biological and Radiological Defence (CBRD) unit and Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) under a unified command.