Base-wide exercise tests responses to hijacking, disease outbreak

  • Published
  • By Will Huntington
  • 88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- Wright-Patterson Air Force Base personnel faced a series of events designed to complete several annual exercise requirements and evaluate the installation’s ability to respond to emergencies base-wide last week.

 

Exercise activities began early on Monday as 88th Security Forces members were called to the aircraft parking area adjacent to the 445th Airlift Wing in response to a possible hijacking.

 

As part of the exercise scenario, an armed and disgruntled aircraft maintenance member boarded a 445th AW C-17 Globemaster III aircraft and demanded that the flight crew take off immediately.

 

As the scenario unfolded, different measures were employed to prevent the aircraft’s departure and to also completely thwart the hijacking attempt.  While the exercise team had added as much realism as possible to the event, the safety of all of the players involved was always under consideration.

 

A hijacking exercise affects many different organizations on base and they must all come together as a team. It also brings in some outside agencies, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who have a role to play in resolving the situation. When those agencies participate as exercise players, it provides an opportunity to interface with them and to better understand each other’s roles.

 

“This exercise, from extended planning through to execution, strengthened the relationships within our responder community.  This type of event builds not only knowledge, but trust, in each other’s capabilities,” said Myra Fincher, Director of Exercises and Inspections.

 

Elsewhere on base that day, the first pieces of another exercise event started to play out in the form of a role player “patient” self-presenting at the Wright-Patterson Medical center with flu-like symptoms. Medical test results quickly came back as positive for the flu.

 

As medical personnel were treating the patient and conducting their tests, Wing Inspection Team members observed them to assess their responses and actions.

 

On Tuesday another role player, found to be friends of the previous day’s patient, arrived at the medical center with similar symptoms.  This, and other data, indicated indicating the possibility of a disease outbreak. The “death” of the first patient due to complications from the flu soon after, and the arrival of a third patient, later led to the exercise declaration of a public health emergency.

 

An assessment team gathered to discuss options and the actions needed to contain the outbreak and minimize its potential impact to the base and safeguard public health. As a result, a quarantine was put into effect and a point of distribution, or POD, was established to begin a mass distribution of medications to base personnel.

 

Other events around the installation, including a shelter-in-place, a recall, an active shooter and a water vulnerability exercise, throughout the week focused on individual units and their ability to respond to emergencies.

 

An 88th Communications Group exercise, tested their member’s ability to employ the use of an automated external defibrillator device, or AED, during a life-threatening cardiac event such as a heart attack.

 

The next installation-wide exercise is scheduled for Jan. 30 through Feb. 4.