US soldiers from Fort Detrick, medical lab train with Ukrainian troops

Soldiers from the Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland-based 1st Area Medical Laboratory and Fort Detrick, US Army Medical Institute of Infectious Diseases were deployed to Ukraine and trained with the country's military medical professionals in Kyiv last month, according to DVIDS, an operation under the US Department of Defense that facilitates communication between media and American military serving globally.

Maj Jang-woo Lee, the 1st AML chief of Endemic Disease and Biological Warfare Assessment, said the American soldiers supported the establishment of a Ukraine Ministry of Defense Biological Mobile Diagnostics Unit.

The US Defense Threat Reduction Agency training initiative focused on polymerase chain reaction diagnostic testing and field identification of biological agents. Lee said the US troops delivered training lectures, hands-on training and field training exercises with Ukrainian troops in laboratory and field environments, using commercially available materials.

Lee also said that working with the Ukrainian service members during the training mission highlighted the many similarities and differences between the two militaries.

The 1st Area Medical Laboratory is a highly-specialized unit conducting field chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosives (CBRNE) threat detection, confirmation and medical surveillance.

It is a subordinate of the 20th CBRNE Command, the US Department of Defense's only multifunctional all hazards headquarters.