HEIDELBERG, Germany - A male in his mid-20s drives onto a Heidelberg military installation in a red Golf Volkswagen.
After making his way on post, the young driver fires off a steady stream of blank bullets leaving 8 "dead" and 16 "injured."
In just a few brief seconds, an ordinary military community transformed from a place of relative calm, peace and security to one marred by violence and chaos - but not for long.
The simulated active-shooter incident was reported immediately and American and host nation first responders quickly sprung into action during Friday's full-scale force protection exercise on Patrick Henry Village.
Members of the Emergency Operations Center also responded and strategized amid cramped quarters, a constant barrage of demanding deadlines and duties and ever-changing conditions - all of which were designed to help them perform under pressure during Exercise Vigilant Shield 2010.
The one-day exercise tested the garrison's readiness and actual response to a simulated real-world shooting incident similar to the tragic Fort Hood, Texas, incident last November that left 13 dead and 30 wounded.
"This exercise had two purposes," said Dave Simpson, USAG Baden-WAfA1/4rttemberg anti-terrorism force protection program manager. "We have to do an exercise every year to meet certain military regulatory guidance the Army gives us, and the second piece was to explore what our commander saw as an area that needed to be trained in because of recent events like Fort Hood ... and that's why we formulated the exercise around it."
Members of the 529th Military Police Company, U.S. Army Europe Office of the Provost Marshal, Explosive Ordnance Disposal, the German Red Cross, the USAG Baden-WAfA1/4rttemberg Fire-Rescue Department, local German Polizei and the 30th Medical Command all provided support during the training exercise held on Patrick Henry Village.
The first responders and EOC members had to all work together to locate and subdue the shooter, treat the injured, and assist garrison families, residents and employees.
U.S. and host nation responders each took turns reacting to the same scenario to observe each other's procedures.
Sgt. 1st Class JonLantz Elliot, USAREUR Office of the Provost Marshal, was an observer controller during the exercise and says the mixed group of military police responded well together.
"Their performance was excellent," Elliot said. "They performed to standard, if not above standard, and it was an excellent test because they didn't get a chance to really practice together. They were thrown together at the last minute, and they responded like they had practiced for weeks and months."
After the exercise was completed, USAG Baden-WAfA1/4rttemberg commander Col. William Butcher and garrison members gathered at the post theater to discuss what worked and what didn't work.
Butcher also took a moment to commend all those who participated in the exercise.
"This is so important to our community and to its safety and to its security," he said. "We won't bring our children and our spouses out if we don't feel safe and secure. The way our community feels safe and secure is that it understands that you professionals, you first responders know your business and are willing to put your life on the line for it, and that's what you're doing."
According to Simpson, the garrison is planning to host another similar exercise next year.
An Installation Force Protection Exercise is planned for Aug. 23-27, and this time with officials from the Department of the Army.
"I think it went pretty well," Simpson said. "We had certain goals that we wanted to see, and we went out, performed and got some good information back we can use to build better response procedures and build better command and control procedures in our EOC. It also gave us a chance to work with our host nation partners, and that in itself is vital."
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