JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii -- Exercise Toxic Pineapple wrapped up last week after seven days of testing Airmen’s ability to safely survive and operate in a decontaminated environment.
The exercise, which was hosted by the 15th Operations Support Squadron, saw 28 aircrew flight equipment Airmen from Pacific Air Forces, Air Combat Command, and the Air Force Reserve Command learn to set up and run an Aircrew Contamination Control Area in a simulated deployed environment.
“The exercise was very successful,” said Master Sgt. Josh Anderson, 15th OSS AFE Quality Assurance office superintendent. “The biggest test came on the first day when the Airmen had to show up at 8 a.m. and were given three hours to set up the line and run deployers through. $Right out the gate they were able to successfully complete the mission—that’s pretty impressive.”
In addition to practicing the nine-step process for the Aircrew Contamination Control Area, the week-long exercise also featured an academic portion that focused on teaching the Airmen the “do’s and don’ts” of the process as well as lessons learned.
“The purpose of the process is to take an aircrew member who may have been exposed to a chemical or biological agent and remove their flying equipment and flight suit off as quickly and safely as possible,” Anderson said.
Anderson said previously there were many ways to set up and run a decontamination line until recently when the Aircrew Contamination Control Area was made the standardized way to perform the process; and that’s the ability Toxic Pineapple was testing.
“Until recently there were so many ways to do this process, and that’s what makes the ability to come together as strangers and be able to pick it up right away even more impressive,” he said.
Anderson said the exercise was important and necessary because properly setting up and processing aircrew through Aircrew Contamination Control Area is serious business.
“The consequence of not doing this process correctly is death,” he said. “Processing the line correctly is a life or death situation so we take it very, very seriously. It’s a very methodical process. The tiniest breath of some of these agents is enough to kill someone.”
Tech. Sgt. Lindy Knight, 1st Special Operations Support Squadron, said the unique thing about the exercise was the ability to see the process from both sides—as a worker and as a simulated aircrew member.
During the exercise, not only did the participants have an opportunity to process through the decontamination line, they did so in character as aircrew members from multiple airframes with varying situations and exposure to different contaminating agents, in order to test the deccon crew’s ability to handle any kind of situation during a real deployment.
“We got to familiarize ourselves with how to process aircrews from all the different airframes, as opposed to only being familiar with the airframe we work with daily at home,” she said. “I think in the real world, a combat situation would already be stressful, but adding a contamination element to it would certainly add to that stress, so it helps to be familiar with the process and be ready for any scenario.”
Throughout the exercise, the students were faced with a variety of scenarios aimed to mimic potential real-life events, such as the lightweight inflatable decontamination system (lids), which is used as the infrastructure for the decontamination line deflating.
Knight said it was those scenarios that made the training more realistic and beneficial.
“I absolutely got a lot out of this exercise,” she said. “I think it made everyone a lot more comfortable and gave us a very thorough understanding of the process. Getting to see the process from both the aircrew perspective and as someone who’s running the line also helped us identify communication issues to look out for.”
Though this was the first time holding Toxic Pineapple at Hickam, Anderson said he believes after its success, it will become an ongoing occurrence.