RALEIGH -- The North Carolina National Guard's Rapid Reaction Force will begin a training exercise at Raleigh-Durham International Airport in Morrisville on Monday, June 21. The exercise tests the RRF's ability to respond in the event of a disaster or security situation. The 300 Guardsmen will train with RDU Law Enforcement through June 25.

Travelers through RDU will see uniformed Guardsmen in the parking areas, terminals and operating a check point at the entrance to the parking garage.  Only vehicles participating in the exercise will go through the check point.  Personal vehicles will not be searched. They will carry weapons; however there will be no ammunition and each weapon will have a cover on the barrel.

There will be a media availability with RDU Police Chief Donna Waters and Maj. Ed Wallace the Deputy Director of Military Support from the N.C. National Guard at 3 p.m. on June 21 outside the RDU Operations Office.

The National Guard maintains an approximate 300 Soldier Rapid Reaction Force unit that is available to the Governor of N.C. or the President in times of emergency. The responsibility for providing the unit transitions annually among five of the N.C. National Guard Major Subordinate Commands. Each year the RRF is validated through a week of training and a week of a scenario based exercises in the public domain. This year's exercise is located at RDU.

Previous exercises have been conducted at: Carolina Pipeline, Sunny Point Terminal, and the N.C. Port of Wilmington.

This year members of the 505th Engineer Battalion, headquartered in Gastonia, N.C., will be assigned the RRF duty. They will begin deploying to RDU June 21. They are working in support of RDU Law Enforcement, simulating how an actual command relationship would be conducted if they were called to support RDU in an actual emergency.

Able to deploy statewide within 24 hours, the team is designed to augment local and regional response capabilities in special security events. The RRF, headed up by the 113th Field Artillery Brigade, deployed to Louisiana in support of Hurricane Katrina operations in 2005. Additionally, N.C. Guardsmen worked side by side RDU Law Enforcement following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.