WMD First Responder Terrorism Response Training Program
During a terrorist attack on US soil, the first people on the scene will most likely be first responders. In the years following 9/11 there was a great deal of effort put into ensuring first responders were as prepared for terrorist attacks as possible. The WMD-REALITI program provides accredited training focused on the knowledge and skills required to work in fixed and mobile CBRN labs. The program is a multi-week, four-level (Intermediate through Advanced) training program for first responders, spanning biological, chemical, and nuclear terrorist threats. Funded by the National Guard Bureau, it was a multi-year effort coordinated between the Technical Support Working Group (TSWG), Concurrent Technologies Corporation (CTC), and Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP). The result was 750 hours of instruction equal to a BS in Disaster Response.
Professors and SMEs were extensively interviewed to define scope, objectives, baselines, learning preferences, and assessment requirements. Objectives were built out in detail using the US Army’s System Approach to Training (SAT) and weighted with Bloom’s Taxonomy to specify best delivery methods and tie them assessments using cognitive maps. Courses were then built out by instructors and IDs. Classes were conducted on site at IUP over x weeks for each discipline, each level. Hands-on exercises took place in laboratories and in the field.
I came onto this project as an ID in its second year. The PM and lead ID had done an incredible job on the front end, conducting interviews, and laying out objectives. When I came on, I was one of the IDs that helped professors write lessons and get them ready for print. As drafted courses rolled out that year with live classes and responder students, my job was to sit in and observe classes, talk to responders and professors, assess format, and validate/calibrate content and hands-on labs to ensure it was effective, clear, and concise.
The experience I got on this project was invaluable, and primarily gave me the ability to break down complex information into granular detail across terminal and enabling learning objectives, cognitive levels, and assessment. It essentially taught me the way to formalize what I’d been doing intuitively up to this point in my career.
Each discipline, and each level, had hundreds of pages of documentation for reports, cognitive maps, and content. I worked on the team to finalize all documentation for the formation of the degree and required government reports. This work also included a media feasibility assessment for follow-on work to move sections of the course to an online format, thus easing the amount of time first responders had to be on site at IUP to take classes and labs. I would end up leading that follow-on project as PM the next year, CBRNE-ALERT.
