| Specialized unit’s top enlisted man ends tour |
CHILLICOTHE, Ohio - The top enlisted man in the Ohio National Guard’s Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and high-yield Explosive (CBRNE) Enhanced Response Force Package (CERFP) search and extraction team, ended his tour with the unit March 16, 2008. Sgt. 1st Class Theodore Blanford had held the position since the unit stood up nearly two years ago. The CERFP is a specialized team comprised of several Ohio Army and Air National Guard units that provides an immediate response capability to the governor in the event of a catastrophic event. The unit’s capabilities include search and extraction, decontamination and medical triage and treatment. Blanford’s unit, the Chillicothe-based 1194th Engineer Company, is the CERFP’s search and extraction element. Because of the time-sensitive nature of the unit’s mission, all CERFP members must be able to report to their duty station and be ready to go within six hours of an alert. Blanford is relocating with his civilian job and will be living outside the unit’s acceptable commuting distance. Search and Extraction Team Commander 1st Lt. Travis Ressler, said Blanford was instrumental in the team’s formation and he will be sorely missed. “Sergeant Blanford’s stamp will be forever attached with how operations are designed and implemented with the search and extraction team,” Ressler said. “Being a former noncommissioned officer, I couldn’t have asked for a better person to be the top enlisted man than him.” Blanford reflected on the team’s inception and formation nearly two years prior, when Ressler received an email about the new specialized unit and shared the information with him. “I immediately thought that this described our unit completely,” Blanford said. “I was so excited for this that I immediately started planning for it before we even knew that we were going to get the unit.” Although the team’s initial formation stages were a bit rocky, it quickly pulled together, conducting its first evaluation exercise only three months after being trained, Blanford said. “We did such a good job that our evaluators were not even sure what to think of us,” he said. “The enthusiasm has always been there and every Soldier that is a part of this truly feels that they own this and believe in the mission. I have done many impressive things in my time, from working with the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, to working with Special Forces, and even piloting a helicopter, but I have never worked with a more special and likeable bunch of Soldiers. This truly is the pinnacle of my career.” - 30 - |
