The U.S. Army has begun a series of exercises that will prepare armed servicemen for Homeland Security operations at Fort Stewart, GA. From crowd control to quick response in the event of a chemical, biological, or nuclear attack, the goal of such exercises is to ready those in the service for conducting armed operations on American soil.

The first of such exercises ran on September 30th under the scenario of a response to a nuclear attack.

The exercise scenario was a sobering one: a 10-kiloton nuclear device detonated in America’s heartland, quickly overwhelming civilian responders.

Military leaders who recently trained for this response say they are now thinking differently about how to move equipment, extract the injured and take care of people following this type of attack.

Their insights came from "Vibrant Response," a week-long command post exercise designed to train the commanders and staff of the nation’s dedicated force for responding to chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and high-yield explosive incidents, or CBRNE incidents.

The units completed the exercise Sept. 18 at Fort Stewart, Ga., just two weeks before their force, the CBRNE Consequence Management Response Force, or CCMRF, will be assigned to U.S. Northern Command to begin its mission.