WASHINGTON (Jan. 15, 2015) -- Special Reaction Team (SRT) members from the U.S. Army Military District of Washington were being evaluated into the late evening hours at the National Defense University (NDU) at Fort Lesley J. McNair, as they participated in a certification exercise to validate their incident and crisis response capabilities.
"Washington D.C. is the seat of our government and one of many terrorist choice cities in the nation," said John V. Lease, MDW SRT program manager. "Our SRT provides the MDW commanding general a highly trained law enforcement tactical team that is capable of 24/7 response within the MDW's area of responsibility."
MDW SRT is comprised of members from the Department of Army Police, 289th Military Police Company, and the 3rd U. S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard), who are supported by Bomb Technicians from the 55th Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Company and K-9 teams from the 947th and 241st Military Police Detachments.
"Training, readiness, and certification ensures that the team is capable of meeting or exceeding expectations during the harshest of situations," said Lease.
Spc. Sebastian Rupp, 289th Military Police Company, 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) Soldier and MDW SRT team leader was briefed by Lease before the scenario and was officially put to the test.
"As a team leader, this was my first time doing an operation on this large of a scale," said Rupp. "But I had a well-trained team that knows what to do in these type of situations."
"We held this validation to verify that the team meets the certification expectations by evaluating each member's tactical judgment, physical conditioning and effectiveness to function cohesively as tactical team," said Lease. "The team had to successfully alert, assemble and respond to most extreme threat scenario. We judged their performance by analyzing their ability to successfully negotiate tactical challenges and obstacles."
The simulation featured a disgruntled student at NDU that shot two people and took one hostage; triggering an SRT response to an active shooter scenario. SRT, which is the military and DoD equivalent to SWAT, had to react fast with minimal information.
"Doing an operation this big had me a bit out of my element at first, but I knew I had to stay cool, calm and collected," said Rupp. "I knew I had my teammates around me and my goal was to keep them safe."
MDW SRT went through the building clearing rooms, providing security, working through tactical challenges and using rescue techniques.
"In the beginning it seemed hectic, but once we started moving, everything started to fall into place," said Rupp. "That's where our training started to kick in."
"During the evaluation they covered down on the tactical angles, they were able to clear areas and perfected suspect handling," said Lease. "Those are the three areas we worry about."
In the end, MDW SRT safely apprehended the subject in the scenario and passed their evaluation.
"I think the evaluation went great," said Rupp. "The team did a phenomenal job."
"I think the team did exceptionally well," said Lease. "If I had to give one message to the command, it would be victory! It doesn't matter the situation, they're ready to support MDW 24/7. They're definitely ready."
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