Under a bright late-October sky, representatives of federal, state and local entities turned out Wednesday afternoon at Ellsworth Air Force Base to celebrate a newly constructed "ready building" for the South Dakota National Guard's 82nd Civil Support Team.

The roughly 13,000-square-foot facility will house the 22 members of the South Dakota National Guard's 82nd Civil Support Team (Weapons of Mass Destruction) and their equipment. The state-of-the-art facility consists of vehicle storage bays, administrative offices, classrooms and unit storage areas.

The 82nd Civil Support Team is mainly designed to augment local and regional terrorism response capabilities in events known or suspected to involve WMD. The events would involve hostile use of chemicals, such as nerve or blister agents, biological agents like anthrax or radiological agents.

The team can be en route within 90 minutes to support civil authorities in the event or suspicion of a WMD attack. Previously, the team's equipment was housed in three buildings at Camp Rapid, buildings 30 to 60 years old and outdated for today's needs.

Maj. Gen. Steven Doohen, adjutant general of the South Dakota National Guard, said the building illustrates the cooperation between the community, the National Guard and the Air Force base.

"It's a great relationship, and I'm sure there's good things to come," he said.

Doohen said the new building is a big improvement for the South Dakota National Guard over the former facilities at Camp Rapid, not only because it holds all the team's equipment, but also because of quick access to Ellsworth's runway.

"They need a 90-minute reaction time from the time that they get notified to the time they have to be in the air. So it's really important to have something close to the runway like this," he said.

Rapid response is important for the type of duties the civil support team performs, Doohen said.

"They're very highly trained individuals in chemical, nuclear and biological detection. In this environment we have today, we hope nothing like a dirty bomb or chemical attack happens here," he said. "They're trained to suit up and go in and detect that. It's very specialized. They can be tasked to anywhere in the United States within 90 minutes."

The 82nd CST is one of 55 teams across the U.S. and its territories that the Incident Command System can call on to support the initial local response.

Col. Scott Vander Hamm, commander of the 28th Bomb Wing at Ellsworth, also applauded the teamwork between all the entities involved to bring the building and the 82nd to the base.

Vander Hamm said the project demonstrated the importance of good relationships at all levels between the Guard and the Air Force.

"It's great to be part of this joint team," he said.

Box Elder Mayor Al Dial agreed, saying it has been good to see the cooperation between military and civilian entities.

"We're fortunate here in the Black Hills area because our civilians support the military wholeheartedly," Dial said.

Site work began in May 2007 and the project was substantially completed in August 2008. The ready building marks the first time a South Dakota National Guard facility has been built at Ellsworth.

Contact Scott Aust at 394-8415, or scott.aust@rapidcityjournal.com