International military forces from NATO nations convened on DRDC Suffield's Experimental Proving Ground from July 3 to 25 for the annual Exercise Precise Response, a joint training event which is designed to develop and to test their ability to work together in a chemical, biological, radiological (CBR) environment.

This year's exercise involved 176 participants from Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom as well as additional observers, evaluators and NATO officials from other allied nations. The exercise was hosted by the Counter Terrorism Technology Centre (CTTC) at DRDC Suffield. Participants were able to put their skills to use in a variety of CBR scenarios, including a tunnel, a cave, a rubble pile, a car wreck, a mail room, hotel room or a clandestine/make-shift lab. Scenarios were developed to challenge NATO's ability to respond to a CBR event and included sampling and analysis exercises using both chemical and biological simulants, live chemical agents and radiological sources.

This was the first year that foreign military media got a look at the exercise. A journalist from Germany and a Belgian film crew followed their countrys' participants during the training, to get a first hand look at what the troops experienced.

After three weeks of daily scenarios, the participants wrapped up the exercise with a "Footy" (soccer) tournament on the last day. While the Canadian team (made up of DRDC staff) put forth a valiant effort, the UK team walked away with the win.

Members of the German reconnaissance team work their way through chemical and biological scenarios to confirm the presence of warfare agents.

A member of the German team establishes a perimeter at a chemical scenario, while other members enter the hot zone.