Offutt Airmen prepare for any situation during active shooter exercise

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt, Richard Williams
  • 55th Wing Public Affairs
OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. --  Airmen from the 55th Security Forces Squadron responded to a worst-case-scenario training situation at the 55th Mission Support Group headquarters September 10, 2010.

The active-shooter exercise, conducted in the early morning hours, tested the Airmen's response to very real events, similar to ones that have taken place on military installations such as Fort Hood, Texas, said Master Sgt. Aaron Weed, 55th SFS.

"About a year ago we started the planning process for an active shooter scenario here on base," Sergeant Weed said. "We have been working some smaller exercises since
January to get us to the first hands-on application."

The exercise began with a shooter stopping his vehicle in front of the 55th MSG headquarters and firing on individuals who were attempting to enter, Sergeant Weed said. "The individual then crossed the street and entered the building with the ultimate goal of making it to the MSG commander's office located inside."

Sergeant Weed, who was the exercise organizer, said he has studied not only these types of situations but workplace violence in general. He has studied information from incidents beginning in 1966 at the University of Texas tower sniper incident through recent events such as Fort Hood and the Von Maur shootings in Omaha, which show there is a real threat and Offutt Air Force Base must be prepared for anything.

"We [55th SFS] have been training for this type of situation," Sergeant Weed said. "More than 75 percent of our Airmen have been through specific training and the Airmen who responded today have had an additional seven-day, eight to ten hours a day, course to prepare them even further."

The training the Airmen are receiving here is not unique to Offutt, explained Sergeant Weed. "The Air Force actually came out with guidance and policy about a year ago, shortly after the Fort Hood incident, on how to deal with these types of situations."

For Staff Sgt. Marcus Stokes, 55th SFS, this type of training situation and the guidance
set by the U.S. Air Force and Offutt are important tools to help him do his job.

"As terrorists change their tactics, we need to change ours," said Sergeant Stokes, one of the first responders to the training scenario. "We are trained to fight anywhere in the world but it is also important that we take care of our home station too."

When the Airmen arrived at the building, they found simulated injured individuals and casualties in and around the building, explained Sergeant Weed. The team had natural and manmade obstacles to overcome in order to achieve the ultimate objective, which was to neutralize the threat, save lives and assist medical personnel with the evacuation of the wounded, he said.

"Our main concern once we arrived was to take care of the shooter," said Sergeant Stokes. "If we could neutralize him then we could cut down on any additional casualties and help our responders save lives."

Once the security forces teams neutralized the threat, the two teams had to ensure the rest of the building was safe to evacuate people who were not injured, Sergeant Stokes said.

With the area secure, hostages free and victims receiving medical attention, Sergeant Stokes and Sergeant Weed had time to reflect on how the 55th SFS responded.

"I think our performance was excellent," said Sergeant Stokes. He said the teams had
been training hard and this was one of many scenarios that could take place but the response was excellent.

"Overall the team performed almost flawlessly," said Sergeant Weed. "We threw some challenges in there to try to confuse the responders, and two teams responded which was a challenge because when we train, our teams train with a specific number of people."

He pointed out that in the course of training for these types of scenarios, adding or subtracting people can change tactics but with every wrinkle he threw at the teams, they adjusted.

"There is always room for improvement but that is why we train," added Sergeant Weed. The time the teams spend practicing these things prepare them for the time something like this happens.

"This type of training is a stepping stone," added Sergeant Stokes. "A lot of guys may just get thrown into this in the real world and it is important we all know how to respond in these types of situations."

"I want to do this again," said Sergeant Weed. "I would like to do this once a month if I could."

He said it is important that not only security forces know how to respond to this type of situation but the base population as well. Sergeant Weed added the program is a crawl, walk, run program and Offutt Airmen are between the walk and run stage.

"The base populace is going to respond to this potentially, and I hope it never happens here, but if it does they need to know how to respond and that will be the next stage of our training."