VIRGINIA BEACH, Virginia –
Virginia National Guard Soldiers and Airmen assigned to the Fort Pickett-based 34th Civil Support Team participated in a collective training event June 23, 2026, at the Virginia Beach Police Department’s Creeds Law Enforcement Training Facility in Virginia Beach, Virginia and June 25, 2026, at the State Military Reservation in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
“The collective training event allowed our team to operate over two training days with Army North observer-coach/trainers and evaluators,” said Army Lt. Col Benjamin Zahm, commander of the 34th CST “It gave us an opportunity to practice our tactics, techniques, and procedures in an environment similar to an external evaluation.”
The 34th CST supports first responders during potential hazardous materials incidents involving possible chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or explosive threats and can identify unknown substances, assess current and projected consequences, advise an incident commander on response measures and assist with requests for additional state support.
“The training tested our ability to execute mission-essential tasks and to follow training and evaluation outlines across the full team, including the survey, medical, analytical, operations, and command sections,” Army 1st Sgt. Class David Sisk, senior enlisted advisor for the 34th CST.
During this training, the 34th CST worked through two scenarios over two days at two separate locations. These scenarios typically involve chemical, biological, or radiological hazards and often take place in notional lab-type environments.
“Each scenario tested the team in a different way because the locations, setups, and hazards were unknown to the team before arrival,” Sisk explained. “The scenarios required the team to conduct site reconnaissance, site characterization, sampling, technical decontamination, emergency man-down decontamination, and overall operations and command and control.”
One complicating factor for the Soldiers and Airmen of the unit was the summer heat in Virginia Beach.
“The heat was definitely a factor during the event,” Zahm said. “On the first day, temperatures were in the 90s with high humidity, making operations in Level A suits extremely challenging. Day two was a little better, but both days forced the team to account for heat exposure and time in the suit.”
Just because a team member may have enough air to operate for an hour or more does not always mean the heat will allow that same amount of time in the suit, he explained. Heat and humidity can cause the inside of the suit and mask to fog, limit visibility, increase fatigue, and raise the risk of dehydration.
“That is one reason training in the heat is important,” Sisk said. “In a real-world response, we do not get to choose the weather, and Virginia can be hot and humid for much of the year. Training in those conditions builds resiliency and forces leaders and team members to make sound decisions. During the event, we used work/rest cycles, hydration, ice water to cool hands and wrists, and air-conditioned vehicles to help personnel cool down after coming out of the suit.”
“Overall, I was impressed by how well the Soldiers and Airmen worked together, communicated, trusted their TTPs [Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures], and executed with precision and resolve,” Zahm said. “I saw improvement from day one to day two, especially in survey, which improved their PCCs [Pre-Combat Checks] and PCIs [Pre-Combat Inspections] and communication downrange. Decontamination also continued to refine its process and make it more efficient.”
The CST is unique because it brings Army and Air personnel together under a single mission set, Sisk explained.
“Both services use different terminology at times, but this team has done a great job of building a shared understanding of the mission,” he said. “This training made us better by giving us a chance to compare how we operate with an evaluator’s interpretation of the T&EO’s, to take honest feedback, and to continue improving before our external evaluation and any real-world response.”
Army North’s role in the training is important because its representatives observe processes, evaluate how the CST operates in accordance with their Training and Evaluation Outlines, answers questions about their Mission-Essential Task List and provides feedback on how the CST can improve as a team.
“The purpose of this event was not just to check a box,” Sisk said. “It really allowed us to validate our processes, identify areas for refinement, and continue preparing for our upcoming external evaluation in September. More importantly, it helps us become better prepared to respond to real-world missions or events.”
An Army North-observed collective training event is separate from the external evaluation, but both occur every 18 months, explained Sisk. The collective training event typically occurs several months before EXEVAL, giving the team time to assess feedback, adjust training, and improve processes before the formal external evaluation.
“The ARNORTH feedback was that our team performed exceptionally well, with little to recommend as focus areas for improvement,” Zahm said. “Our next big challenge will be the integration of team members returning from required training so that we are fully prepared for our next mission or evaluation event.”
The 34th CST is divided into six sections: command, operations, communications, administration/logistics, medical/analytical and survey. Each team member completes between 500 and 900 hours of specialized training during their first year of assignment and continues advanced training throughout their tenure with multiple agencies including the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, the National Fire Academy, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency.
The team’s primary response area includes a 300-mile radius from its home station at Fort Pickett and stretches as far north as Pennsylvania and as far south as South Carolina. They maintain personnel on standby at all times, can deploy an advance team within 90 minutes of notification and the main body deploys within three hours.
The unit’s assigned transportation includes a command vehicle, operations trailer, a communications vehicle called the unified command suite which provides a broad spectrum of secure communications capabilities, an analytical laboratory system vehicle containing a full suite of analysis equipment to support the complete characterization of an unknown hazard and several general-purpose vehicles. The CST normally deploys using its assigned vehicles, but it can be airlifted as required.
Read more about the CST at https://vngpao.info/34thCST