Peoria personnel enhance state partnership with Poland Published Aug. 9, 2009 By TSgt Dawn Anderson 182AW Wesola, Poland -- Twenty-one members from the 182nd Airlift Wing got the opportunity to train with Illinois' state partner, Poland, in a joint exercise late April. They joined over 100 members of the Illinois Air and Army National Guard from various units throughout the state. Members of the Illinois National Guard deployed their portion of the Chemical, Biological, Radiological/Nuclear, and Explosive Enhanced Response Force Package (CERFP). They worked and trained members of the Polish Military Medical Service, Czech Republic and Slovakia forces, and the Red Cross. Specifically, the 182nd supported the medical portion of the mission which treats patients and stabilizes them to be transported to area hospitals. Also involved in the exercise were members from the 182nd Services Flight, supporting the Fatality Search and Recovery Team (FSRT). Their mission is to recover fatalities from an incident and transport them to be decontaminated, and if necessary, to the morgue. In a mass casualty scenario this enables the bodies to be processed and identified so that the families can be notified and have closure back home. The training took place at a former Soviet air base on the outskirts of Warsaw and was intended to help Polish agencies prepare for potential mass casualties during the 2012 European Championship Soccer Match (Euro Cup), which Poland, along with Ukraine, will host for the first time. Illinois and Poland's state partnership began in 1993 and was one of the first state partnerships in the National Guard's State Partnership Program (SPP). There are now 61 partnerships with U.S. states and territories. (Photo by Master Sgt. Ken Stephens, 126th Air Refueling Wing)