CAMP STANLEY, South Korea — Anti-terror exercises this week are testing emergency service responses at several U.S. military bases in the South Korean city of Uijongbu.

On Tuesday, it was Camp Stanley’s fire, military police and ambulance services turn to respond to a simulated terrorist attack. The emergency services sprang into action after an “explosion” at one of the camp’s motor pools.

Camp Red Cloud Garrison fire chief John Cook said firefighters pinpointed the motor pool on a map after getting a report of the incident.

“Then we slowed our response just a little to ascertain that there were no secondary devices (bombs) in the area. We held the ambulances outside while we did a reconnaissance to make sure there was nothing obvious — no fires or devices. Then we cleared the ambulances to go in,” he said.

The first rescuers on the scene, found five role players acting as casualties, including one “killed in action” and four others with serious “injuries.”

Staff Sgt. Christopher Bolig, 30, of the Camp Stanley Troop Medical Clinic, was in charge of stabilizing the wounded and ensuring they were evacuated properly.

The Reading, Pa., native found two people with serious abdominal wounds, whom he evacuated by helicopter for further treatment, and two other casualties, one with a dislocated shoulder and another with burns to his face, who were taken away by ambulance.

“We had to reassure the casualties throughout the process to make sure they understood what was happening.

“It was pretty exciting. Considering we have not done this on Camp Stanley, it was a good opportunity to bring all these agencies together so we knew what should happen in the event of a real emergency,” he said.

Capt. Clinton White, the 6th Battalion, 37th Field Artillery Regiment chaplain, provided ministry to the victims during the exercise.

“Evil is in the world and we have to be prepared to minister where bad things take place,” he said.

In a real mass casualty, chaplains set up the operations center and contact victims’ families to provide comfort, he said.

Once the emergency services left, the area was secured and handed over to the MPs, Cook said.

“Follow-on investigations will take place to determine what caused the explosion. If there was a bomb, EOD (explosive ordinance disposal) would be called in,” he said.

The anti-terrorism exercises are being run by 2nd ID’s Division Artillery, Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, which is charged with force protection, anti-terrorism and civil disturbance response in the Uijongbu enclave.

The Uijongbu base cluster anti-terrorism officer, Capt. Michael Lowson, 28, of Fullerton, Calif., said the exercises simulate various occurrences that could hinder 2nd ID’s deployment or readiness, test emergency services’ reactions; and harm soldiers or family members.

“It is to test the coordination of the installation responders,” he said. The Camp Stanley exercise “was just a mass casualty event for which on-post medical resources would not be adequate and we would have to evacuate personnel.”

2nd ID monitors possible terror threats in Area I but Lowson said he couldn’t discuss specifics. The anti-terrorism exercise will be repeated at each of the nine installations where U.S. personnel serve in the Uijongbu base cluster, he said.

Different scenarios would be used to test responders, he said.

“We have a bomb threat, an attempted perimeter breach and we also practice implementing force protection,” Lowson said.

Emergency services personnel practice responding to chemical, biological nuclear threats in other exercises, he said.

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