Readiness exercise sharpens skills

  • Published
  • By Amy Rollins
  • Skywrighter Staff
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB, Ohio --  A simulation involving a disgruntled employee whose job was being cut was part of an active shooter scenario Oct. 30 during 88th Air Base Wing readiness exercises conducted at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

The exercise was held at Bldg. 676, Area B, site of the Air Force Research Laboratory DOD Supercomputing Resource Center.

Observers and exercise evaluators were on hand to assess the effi cacy of the training and to note both desired and undesirable actions.

Tech. Sgt. Ryan Brown, senior operations controller of the 88th Communications Group and one of the exercise coordinators, said, "We're evaluating our people to make sure that in an active shooter scenario they're taking the right steps, taking cover."

Other purposes of the exercise were to see whether building occupants secured their space as well as how appropriate the responders' actions were.

The scenario began with a disgruntled employee who was a system administrator on the network and was overheard saying he had planted a virus because his job was being cut. Portrayed by Milton Waddams, the disgruntled employee was confronted by David Whorton, an action officer in the base's Cyber Security Working Group. Mr. Waddams became upset and simulated shooting several people with a plastic handgun in one of the building's offices.

He then fled and hid somewhere in the building. Mr. Whorton called his commander, Security Forces were notified and information protection conditions were escalated and observed.

"The intent of this exercise scenario is to assess the ABW's emergency response and management capabilities to effectively counter an active shooter crisis situation," said Master Sgt. Bruce Hatfield, 88 ABW Security Forces Squadron's (SFS) lead exercise evaluation team leader. "The installation actively trains first responders as well as assigned military and civilian employees to defend against the potential threat of an individual who does, or attempts to do, a violent act using a firearm. In order to evaluate our installation's preparedness to employ necessary tactics, techniques and procedures, this exercise concentrated on lessons learned from previous real-world events.

"Our training objectives have been developed to ensure first responder actions are focused on quickly neutralizing an active and hostile threat while minimizing risks to the rest of the base population," Sergeant Hatfield said. "This is essentially what our exercise is designed to evaluate."

After the first "contact" team of the Security Forces Squadron arrived they made a tightly controlled sweep of the first floor where the exercise was being conducted. Once the contact team apprehended and secured the suspect, a second "recovery" team re-swept the floor, released employees locked in -- some having wisely barricaded themselves in -- their room and escorted them to safety.

The SFS members even reacted appropriately when they heard construction noises from hammers that sounded like gunshots.

"This is what this is all about," said one of the observers, "Emergency Services doing what they're supposed to do. This is how we learn."

After the floor was cleared of personnel, the simulation continued with the disgruntled employee having been overheard saying something about planting a bomb outside the building. The Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Flight was called, and a bomb-sniffing military working dog (MWD), Rudo, and his handler, Tech. Sgt. Matthew Hemeon, came to conduct a sweep.

Tech. Sgt. George Freese, MWD kennel master, said MWD Rudo just turned 2 years old and recently arrived at Wright-Patt from training at Lackland AFB, Texas. This was his first exercise, but his handler said Rudo is working out well and has good potential.

"This (inclement) weather is new to him, being down at Lackland for so long, so we'll see how it affects him," he said.

The conditions seemed to have no ill effects on Rudo, as he took little time to respond to the simulated bomb once he smelled it, earning his reward -- a few seconds with a toy Sergeant Hemeon had. The area was cleared and then the EOD unit took over, remotely piloting a robot to the bomb's location.

Master Sgt. Loren Green, EOD Flight chief, said, "It's always better to put a robot in harm's way prior to us."

X-ray technology was then used to take a look inside the suspect package and then identify the best way in which to render it safe, Sergeant Green said. Sometime later, the exercise was considered closed, with analyses conducted and further training needs assessed.

The 2013 first exercise is scheduled for early spring.