15.2 Preparedness, MOPP & Individual Protection

Preparedness Actions

AFH 1 sets the standard: installations "must take actions to protect, prepare for, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of an attack or incident to ensure we can conduct prompt, sustained, and decisive operations in a contested environment." Preparedness actions should be considered mission critical and given a high priority when the threat of an enemy attack is high, and they depend on intelligence, the installation's threat probabilities, and recommendations provided by subject matter experts.

The individual obligation: "DAF personnel should understand the importance of knowing an installation's preparedness actions well before an attack."

Warning and Notification

Every installation must have a rapid and effective system to quickly disseminate emergency notifications — watches, warnings, evacuation routes, and protective actions. Personnel are "highly encouraged to enroll in mobile device notifications."

Attack warning signals are used to posture installations for attacks, warn of attacks in progress, initiate post-attack recovery actions, and return the installation to normal state of readiness. AFH 1 notes that variations may be used in some geographical regions, and that personnel will be notified of these variations before departure of home station and/or upon arrival into the region.

Tones and Announcements

Steady versus wavering is the highest-frequency item in Chapter 17. The memory hook: a steady tone means a steady, non-hostile hazard (disaster/incident); a wavering tone means a hostile act.

Note also the two different shelter-in-place procedures — interior room for natural hazards; sealed pre-designated room with HVAC shut off for technological hazards.

Alarm Conditions

Alarm black has three release categories: Initial Release — CBRN and specialized teams (EOD, Damage Assessment, etc.); Limited Release — Post Attack Reconnaissance teams; General Release — mission-essential personnel only.

Three numbers to lock down: green = MOPP 0, yellow = MOPP 2, red and black = MOPP 4. And "less than 30 minutes" is the alarm yellow timing.

MOPP Levels

MOPP levels "quickly communicate the required individual protective equipment and protection levels for in-place forces to take in the event of CBRN operations or attack conditions." The installation commander determines the initial level, based on MOPP condition analysis, and adjusts levels as mission priorities and intelligence change. They are used in conjunction with alarm conditions.

The pattern is cumulative and easy to reconstruct: each level moves one item from carry to wear, in the order overgarment → footwear → mask/hood → handwear. At MOPP 4 everything is worn; at MOPP 0 only field gear is worn.

Split MOPP is "a tactic used to divide an installation or operating location into two or more CBRN zones, rather than having to declare the entire installation contaminated." Where movement between zones is necessary, zone transition points are used to contain contamination while allowing the movement of people, equipment, and needed supplies.

Individual Protection

Individual protection comprises individual protective equipment, vaccinations and prophylaxes, protective shelters, evacuation, relocation, exposure control, contamination control, and warning and notification systems, taken in stages equivalent to the urgency and nature of the threat.

The ground crew ensemble is "the best immediate protective equipment against chemical agents" — regardless of the type of agent, concentration, or method of attack. It is a whole-body system protecting against chemical-biological warfare agents, toxins, and radiological particulates, consisting of:

• Protective mask with filters
• Overgarment
• Protective gloves
• Footwear covers or overboots

It also includes M8 and M9 detector paper, reactive skin decontamination lotion, and M295 decontamination kits.

Note the limit established in Section 17B: the ensemble is the best protection against chemical agents, but it is not designed to protect against toxic industrial materials — for those, evacuate.

Sheltering

All installations are required to conduct threat-based shelter planning. The installation commander is responsible for establishing a shelter management plan and should designate responsibility for preparing and operating each shelter.

Shelters are "structures that protect personnel from the effects of CBRN or hazardous material release over extended periods," and shelter selection is based on structural and personnel housing capabilities in relation to potential types of disasters.

Personnel may be required to shelter-in-place when the type or extent of the hazard is unknown or evacuation at the time would be dangerous. To keep the inside of facilities from becoming contaminated, occupants will close all windows and doors and turn off ventilation systems at the time of the suspected attack.

Collective Protection Systems (COLPRO) can be fixed-site or expeditionary, providing protection from CBRN agents by utilizing an overpressure system to keep threat agents outside, ultimately allowing occupants to work or rest inside the facility without wearing protective gear. Many have integrated contaminated control areas where contaminated personnel can enter once decontaminated and outer garments are removed.

The overpressure mechanism is the defining feature of COLPRO and the detail exam items key on.

Critical Resource Protection

Prior to a CBRN attack, every installation must determine which equipment and assets can be stored, protected, or covered — because protecting these vital resources will minimize, or completely remove, the requirement to decontaminate them for mission use after an attack.

The specific guidance:

• Aircraft, support vehicles, aerospace ground equipment, and munitions should be moved inside or covered to the maximum extent possible
• Bulk supplies should be placed in shelters or under overhead cover
• If equipment cannot be placed under overhead cover, it must be covered or wrapped with at least one layer of barrier material
• When possible, use two layers of barrier material to cover the tops of vehicles and equipment — so contamination can be removed, safely discarded, and replaced
• Personnel should be trained and take care when removing barriers to prevent contamination transfer

One layer minimum, two layers on tops when possible is the numeric detail worth memorizing.