The 85th Civil Support Team, a specialized group of medics, scientists, surveyors and communication specialists, was formed last year in response to congressional concerns that the nation is unprepared to respond to chemical, biological or radiological attacks.

Members of the 22-person Utah National Guard unit left Thursday for their first stint of training at the U.S. Army Chemical School in Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. If successful there - and during an extensive training cycle that will begin when they return home in two weeks - the team will win certification to respond to what its members euphemistically call "events."

No one gets a job with the 85th by chance. Some members competed with dozens of others for their spots.

Capt. Dean Roberts left his job as an Apache helicopter pilot to take a slot as the unit's operations officer.

"As a war fighter, you always want to be on the pointy tip of the spear," Roberts explained as he oversaw the loading Thursday of the C-5 on the tarmac of the Utah Air National Guard base at Salt Lake City International Airport.

"This is a different kind of war and a different kind of war fighting, but it's definitely on that pointy tip," he said.

But it is a tip fraught with unknowns - microscopic dangers that U.S. soldiers have not faced before.

Capt. Carol Scott, a medical officer, said she wouldn't have taken a job with the team unless she believed the risk of a weapons of mass destruction attack was real.

"It's possible for it to happen," she said. "For me, it's a higher calling for my country. We need to be better prepared - and the better prepared we are, the less likely it is that we will have an incident."

If that means running into the epicenter of an "event" while others are running out, Scott said she and her team are ready.

mlaplante@sltrib.com