Professor attends emergency training

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Jun 12, 2008

PROVO -- James E. Kohl, professor of nursing at Brigham Young University, was selected to attend U.S. Homeland Security training at the Center for Domestic Preparedness.

The CDP trains U.S. emergency responders, of which there are about 11 million, to react to local incidents or potential incidents involving weapons of mass destruction.

The CDP is operated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency and is the only federally chartered WMD-training facility in the nation.

Kohl's training culminated at the CDP's Chemical, Ordnance, Biological and Radiological Training Facility, the nation's only facility featuring civilian training exercises in a true toxic environment, using chemical agents.

The advanced hands-on training enables responders to effectively prevent, respond to and recover from real-world incidents involving acts of terrorism.

A member of the Utah County Medical Reserve Corps, Kohl retired from active duty in the military after serving 26 years as a U.S. Navy Nurse Corps Officer. His service included tours on both East and West coasts, the Aleutian Islands, Cuba and Lithuania.

Before retiring from the Navy Nurse Corps, he was the director of Emergency Medicine at San Diego Naval Hospital and chief nurse executive at Naval Hospital in Oak Harbor, Wash.

During his service, Kohl was awarded three meritorious service medals, three Navy Commendation medals, two Navy Achievement Medals and was the first Nurse Corps Officer to earn the Medical Department Surface Warfare Badge.