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MARTINSBURG, Md., Feb. 7, 2011 – Georgia Air Guard Master Sgt. Eric Hogan, communications chief for the Marietta-based 4th Civil Support Team (CST), conducts pre-mission checks on the CST’s communications equipment in a staging area not far from Fort Detrick.

Hogan (who lives in Dallas, Ga.) and the CST are here, along with Cobb County law enforcement and fire officials, Georgia Public Health, the FBI and several other agencies, to participate in Operation Vigilant Sample III (OSVIII), a weeklong bioterrorism response exercise being held at Detrick. OSVIII’s goal is to facilitate a better understanding of the requirements necessary for successfully responding to a bioterrorism event in order to collect and identify unknown agents. The lessons learned here also help promote the concept of a CST Joint Readiness Training Center (CST-JRTC), where civil support teams can practice with their first responder communities, state Laboratory Response Network (LRN) leadership, and FBI weapons of mass destruction (WMD) coordinators.

Hogan has been with the Georgia Air Guard for six years. Before that, he spent four years working alongside his fellow Citizen-Soldiers as an active-duty communications specialist with the 116th Air Control Wing at Robins Air Force Base. Prior to putting on the Air Battle Uniform, he spent four years as a Marine rifleman assigned to Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Division at Camp Lejeune, N.C.