BEAUFORT, S.C. - More than a dozen law enforcement and local-area first responders joined the South Carolina National Guard in a highly realistic maritime anti-terrorism exercise in Port Royal Sound today as part of Vigilant Guard, the largest natural disaster preparedness exercise ever conducted by the South Carolina National Guard.

The exercise scenario consisted of a terrorist organization hijacking a local ferry boat, "Palmetto Messenger," as a platform for deploying a "˜dirty bomb' in the Port Royal harbor. National Guard helicopters, the Beaufort Police Department and the Beaufort County Sheriff's Department observed the "˜hijacked' vessel and requested local-area and Guard HAZMAT and Civil Service Team (CST) assistance.

Vigilant Guard tested about 100 local-area law enforcement and first responders with responding to a potential maritime terrorist threat. "We usually respond as a SWAT team to crimes in progress, warrants and stakeouts," said Matt Clancy, Deputy Chief of Police for the City of Beaufort. "We found this exercise to be exceedingly realistic and definitely helpful for our Special Ops and future development."

Area agencies taking part in the exercise included the Beaufort County Sheriff's Dept., Beaufort's police and fire departments, Port Royal Police Dept., Hilton Head Island HAZ MAT/COBRA, Beaufort County EMS, Beaufort Marine Rescue Squad and several other organizations.

Military units assisting in the exercise included the South Carolina and Georgia National Guard's Civil Service Teams who provided chemical, biological, and radiological assistance as requested. "This particular exercise scenario has been very helpful to the 4th CST," said Georgia National Guard Sgt. Randy Boatner, "We do similar work with our local SWAT teams but this was very beneficial for our training."

Lt. Alan Hammond, deputy commander of the 4th CST, Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Georgia said, "The exercise gives us a chance to work with local responders. They learn how to contact us and gives us the chance to better perfect our skills and support our mission."

The local responders appreciated the opportunity to take part in a large-scale anti-terrorism exercise. "The National Guard assisted us greatly. The CST really benefits us because they're the experts we look to for the answers we need in a situation like this," said Capt. Scott Johnson, Beaufort County Sheriff's Dept.'s SWAT team commander. "It allows us to use all the tactics we train for and to work with the incident commander and in a major exercise like this everyone comes together to act as one team."