NY National Guard civil support teams learn from Brazilian counterparts

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL- Thirty-five New York National Guard Soldiers and Airmen spent a week in Rio De Janeiro learning how to help secure a major soccer tournament from a chemical, biological, or radiological attack from Brazilian Soldiers.

The members of the New York National Guard's 2nd and 24th Civil Support Teams, who specialize in identifying, chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons, spent July 8-12 practicing their craft at Rio's Maracanã Stadium.

The New Yorkers worked with members of the Brazilian Army's 1º Batalhão de Defesa Química, Biológica, Radiológica e Nuclear, which translates into English as the 1st Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense Battalion.

These Soldiers provided support for security missions when Brazil hosted soccer's World Cup in 2014 and the Summer Olympic in 2016.

The exercise simulated a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear attack - known as CBRN--during a soccer match at the stadium, which is home to the Brazilian soccer club Flamengo F.C.

This training is relevant because the final matches of the 2026 Soccer World Cup tournament will be held at the New York New Jersey Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey and the two Civil Support Teams, called CSTs for short, expect to provide support, explained Lt. Col. John Giroux, the commander of the 2nd CST.

"As we look forward to hosting in the U.S. especially in New York for the World Cup finals in 2026, we will take the lessons, skills and partnership we learned here to ensure our spectators have the safest World Cup possible," Giroux said.

The Brazilians, he said, "have extensive experience in world-level events such as the World Cup, and Olympics."

For these reasons, he jumped on the opportunity to train with their Brazilian counterparts, Girouz said.

The 2nd CST is based at Stratton Air National Guard Base outside Schenectady, New York, while the 24th CST is based at Fort Hamilton in New York City.

Brazilian Army Lt. Col. Luiz Bifano, the commander of the 1st Battalion, said his Soldiers enjoyed training with the New York National Guard Soldiers.

"The training was a great insight on how to work as a team in small unit with high skills and a high level of equipment and preparation," Bifano said.

During the week both units worked together in CBRN related tasks, including surveillance, reconnaissance, sampling, and decontamination. The training led up to a simulated attack at the stadium.

Americans and Brazilians taught classes on CBRN skills, equipment and demonstrated how they do their jobs. This included training on standard operating procedures and communications procedures.

Staff Sgt. Raven O'Neil, a member of the 24th CST, helped demonstrate the hasty decontamination. This is the method used to run a small number of people through the decontamination line in case of an attack.

"The Brazilian soldiers are accustomed to running over 200 people through their decon line, so they were eager to learn something new and different which made it exciting for us to teach," O'Neil said.

"It's been tough overcoming the language barrier but honestly it's been easier than I originally thought because a lot of our CBRN training is a universal language that we both speak despite a different uniform," O'Neil said.

The training prior to the event helped to build a familiarization with each unit's equipment and capabilities, both Brazilians and Americans said.

Capt. Salvatore Scannapico, the science and medical officer assigned to the 2nd CST, demonstrated different sampling techniques.

"We really were able to share different tactics and procedure ways to acquire a sample and break down how similar and different the equipment we use in the field," Scannapico said.

"We're genuinely building a stronger partnership through learning and those bonds are only going to better help us work with each other in the future," Scannapico said.

The New York National Guard has been conducting training with Brazilian Soldiers and Airmen since signing a State Partnership Program agreement with Brazil in 2019.

Under this National Guard program, Guard Soldiers and Airmen share their skills with, and learn from, military personnel in 106 nations.

New York also has a State Partnership Program agreement with the Republic of South Africa and on July 12, New York National Guard leaders signed an agreement with Sweden's military.

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