34th CST travels to Alaska for joint exercise
Virginia National Guard Soldiers and Airmen assigned to the Fort Pickett-based 34th Civil Support Team joined other CSTs and emergency response organizations for Exercise ORCA 25 June
9-13, 2025, in Juneau, Alaska.
The mission of the 34th CST is to support civil authorities in a domestic chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive incident, and the evaluated tasks included deploying the team, establishing communications and medical support, conducting survey, technical decontamination and analytical functions as well as conducting interagency coordination.
Exercise ORCA is a full-scale all-hazards chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosives joint and interagency training exercise testing and evaluating the operational capability of the whole-of-government emergency management system, according to a release from the Alaska National Guard.
In addition to the 34th CST, Alaska’s 103rd CST, California’s 9th CST, Montana’s 83rd CST and Oregon’s 102nd CST also participated in the exercise, along with other federal, state and local agencies.
Tech. Sgt. Taylor Lincoln, a Virginia National Guard Airmen assigned to the 34th Civil Support Team, examines a simulated weapons of mass destruction chemical lab during Exercise ORCA June 9, 2025, in Juneau, Alaska.