Training the Nation

Determination runs deep in the veins of every Mountaineer—determination to survive, succeed and excel. The small, unassuming state lies in the peaceful isolation of the Appalachian Mountains, and for that reason, its people have been overlooked many times in the past in terms of education and innovation.

West Virginians have a surprising way about them—a quiet demeanor, a passion for the outdoors and an inherent friendliness unmatched by anyone anywhere else. Compounded by the inherited determination of the first settlers that struggled through the rugged mountains and vicious terrain, these traits make West Virginians a secret weapon not to be underestimated.

West Virginians have not only used their unique territory and natural problem-solving skills to improve the areas of wildfire containment, coal mining safety, first responder education and hands-on military training, but they have gone one step further: they have made their methods transparent to the entire country—and even the world—in an effort to share their knowledge and improve the safety of their neighbors from Kentucky to California and from Chile to Japan.

Here we examine four glowing examples of how West Virginians are using their natural surroundings and their Mountaineer instincts to train the rest of the nation.

Division of Forestry

The West Virginia Division of Forestry (DOF) offers many valuable services to the residents of West Virginia and surrounding states, including training opportunities for wildland firefighters, foresters and professional loggers. Throughout the state, the DOF conducts training sessions in the basics of wildland firefighting to volunteer fire department members and other interested individuals. The trainees then utilize in their home county what they have learned, and a few even participate in the interagency wildfire mobilization program, traveling to other states to fight wildfires as part of a West Virginia crew.

In addition to basic training courses, the Division of Forestry also provides numerous instructors for the Mid-Atlantic Wildfire Training Academy held each year in Morgantown. Trainees from West Virginia and other states attend this academy and take the knowledge home to put it into practice. In this way, the DOF is able to share the experience of its personnel with many other states, not just the citizens of West Virginia.

Another area of training that foresters are involved with is the use of Best Management Practices (BMP) in forest road building and the reclamation of logging operations. Personnel from our Logging Sediment Control Act section routinely hold BMP workshops for loggers and professional foresters as well as logger recertification classes. These classes are attended by individuals from West Virginia and surrounding states, including Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland.

Last, but certainly not least, the West Virginia Division of Forestry takes on an active role in the professional development of foresters within the state. All professional foresters that practice in the State of West Virginia must be board-registered and pass continuing education courses. The DOF works closely with other state and federal agencies and organizations to provide training opportunities to these foresters. Topics include forest stewardship, invasive species, wildlife management and erosion control, as well as many other facets of forest management.

Joint Interagency Training and Education Center

In February 1993, America was stunned by a failed terrorist attack designed to bring down the World Trade Centers in New York. Two years later, a Japanese cult conducted a sarin gas attack against civilians in a Tokyo subway. Barely out of the Cold War, the stage was set for a new threat our nation would face for the next generation and beyond.

West Virginia’s Adjutant General, Maj. Gen. Allen E. Tackett, recognized the emerging terrorist threat to the United States and began looking for ways to train and prepare West Virginia National Guard members to protect both the Mountain State and the nation. His vision became the cornerstone of a program that would position West Virginia as the nation’s leader in homeland defense training and support to counter-terrorism efforts.

Timing for his initiative was prophetic. Almost a full year before 9/11, the West Virginia National Guard completed training of an initial group of first responders at the newly formed Center for National Response, a training location known to many simply as “the tunnel.” The tunnel is now just one piece of the Guard’s Joint Interagency Training and Education Center (JITEC), which provides training to active duty and reserve military and civilian first-responders from across the country that focuses on civil support and emergency preparedness. JITEC’s state-of-the-art facility allows first responders to train in a post-blast rubble scenario, a subway station, a weapons of mass destruction laboratory, a highway hazmat venue, a cave, a bunker complex, laboratories and a confined space emergency egress trainer.

The JITEC has two other locations—the Robert C. Byrd Regional Training Institute at Camp Dawson near Kingwood, WV and the St. Albans Readiness Center—and has established a second national training program called the Critical Infrastructure Protection Battalion that is the only one of its kind. The battalion provides training and asset risk analysis for state, local and tribal first responders, emergency management personnel and state and local personnel on strategy to protect key critical infrastructure resources.

Since its inception, the JITEC has trained more than 119,675 military and civilian first responders from across the United States; conducted more than 1,600 training exercises and performed dozens of external evaluations. First responders from active duty, the National Guard, reserve components, FEMA teams, special strike teams, metropolitan fire and rescue teams and many other first responder assets have trained with the JITEC.

Blackheart International

Blackheart International (BHI), a Philippi, WV-based supplier of tactical gear and supplies for a variety of companies and government agencies on both the national and international level, operates Blackheart International Training, the primary mission of which is to provide top-level tactical training to select U.S. military units and certain security personnel from outside the state.

BHI Training courses, managed at Blackheart International Training’s private facilities in Barbour County, comprise both classroom instruction and hands-on training and cover a variety of topics, including foreign (former Soviet Block) and NATO weapons familiarization, sniper shooting, armorer, hostage rescue and surveillance detection and avoidance. BHI Training also provides tactical law enforcement training that includes defensive pistol, defensive rifle, sniper, SWAT and qualification training for in- and out-of-state law enforcement personnel. In addition, the company has developed several civilian security training programs, such as private executive security training for personnel tasked with providing security to high-risk, high-value targets like corporate executives, politicians and diplomats, carry-concealed weapon certification and family security/defense programs.

The facility has an expansive outdoor range where they conduct live-fire training for everything from defensive pistol and close-quarter battle to crew-served machine guns. For their SWAT, hostage extraction and certain other close-quarter training programs, BHI Training has a converted five-story hospital located in downtown Philippi. This facility, with its multiple levels, tight quarters, numerous rooms and hallways, gives students the most realistic training environment possible. To further enhance the realism and provide students with that extra edge training component, role-playing and simunition, or simulated ammunition, are often used to deliver real-world combat simulation.

The training programs are conducted by former U.S. Army Special Forces personnel who have extensive backgrounds in military special operations, combat, training and law enforcement and are current subject matter experts in their fields. As a result of its trainers’ expertise, its facilities and its regional proximity to Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia, the company is one of the leading tactical training operations in the U.S. and is the leading operation in the Eastern U.S. for foreign weapons training.

BHI has trained approximately 1,550 students in the last six years. At least 1,400 of the students have been from out of state and the majority have been Department of Defense personnel and employees of various non-defense federal agencies. In addition, BHI has sent mobile training teams to Alaska and Virginia to train units within the Department of Defense.

National Mine and Health Safety Academy

Located adjacent to the Raleigh County Memorial Airport, in Beaver, WV, the National Mine Health and Safety Academy is unique as it is the largest facility in the world devoted to mine health and safety. It is the central training site for Mine Safety and Health Administration personnel and for other safety and health professionals from all parts of the United States and around the world.

The academy’s complex is home to classrooms, laboratories and a simulated mine, as well as a large auditorium, cafeteria, gymnasium and a residence hall with dormitory space for more than 300 students.

Those enrolled in formal training programs at the academy attend classes that combine academic and technical subjects with a wide spectrum of practical, hands-on work that allows them to apply in a realistic setting what they have learned. Students, depending on the type of safety work they do, receive comprehensive training in all phases of health and safety in surface or underground coal mining or surface or underground non-coal mining.

Programs on industrial hygiene, mine emergency procedures, mining equipment and technology, computer-based applications for mine health and safety management are available, as well as shorter classes or conferences in the areas of blasting, roof control, haulage and instructional techniques. Academy personnel also travel to mine sites throughout the United States and the world to provide field training and technical assistance to help meet the mining community’s instructional needs.

The academy has trained more than 550,000 mine inspectors, miners, mine operators and other industry personnel from around the world since its dedication in 1976.