WATERVLIET ARSENAL, N.Y. -- The arsenal's largest emergency response exercise concluded on Sept. 3rd where more than 50 arsenal emergency workers and Capital District civilian emergency response professionals simulated an active-shooter scenario.
Emergency responders from the Town of Colonie, City of Troy, City of Watervliet, and the NY State Police have been working diligently for several months in the planning and coordination for this event.
"The exercise was a great success in that we have experienced a level of coordination and interaction among military and local partners that we have never achieved in previous training efforts," said Jim Kardas, director of arsenal emergency services. "Because we involved our local partners, the exercise went from being a good event to a great event."
"The lessons learned from the challenges of communicating and directing across several levels of response teams, each having a different level of capability, are invaluable," he added.
According to emergency response experts who participated in a daylong active-shooter seminar at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point last March, there have been more than 600 active shooting incidents since Columbine in 1999. A common theme in the investigations is that "someone snapped," "no warning signs," and "no red flags." At least that is what friends, family, and coworkers often said. Most active shooting incidents are complete within 2-3 minutes.
"This has been a great opportunity for the arsenal and for our local communities," said Arsenal Commander Col. Mark F. Migaleddi. "Any time we can simulate a possible real-world incident on our terms and on our timeline, it provides a significant training value for our emergency responders as well as for our workforce."
"Not only do we have a better sense of the challenges that an active-shooter situation poses, but we also have improved relationships with local partners who will be better able to support the arsenal as a result of our working together today," Migaleddi said.
Under the simulated scenario, an active-shooter had entered one of the arsenal's buildings and shot and wounded three employees. So, in addition to neutralizing the shooter, the emergency responders also had to conduct a mass casualty response using ambulances from the City of Watervliet and the Town of Colonie.
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