FORT RUCKER, Ala. -- It is Tuesday morning, the siren sounds and there is word of a bomb.
Immediately, the Force Protection Condition is raised, Fort Rucker shuts down, gates close and everyone returns to their assigned units.
While this situation is fictional, people need to be aware of FPCON Levels and what to do during each condition, exercise or actual terrorist event.
The FPCON levels measure the threat level and allow the commander to apply an operational decision to best protect personnel or assets from a terrorist attack.
Five levels make up the FPCONs including: Normal, Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta. See the attached graphic for further details.
Phase I of Fort Rucker's annual Force Protection Exercise is Monday and Tuesday and will test Fort Rucker's ability to respond to a terrorist attack.
Units on the installation will react and intelligence management will work with crisis management to set up a course of action for the commander.
Once the FPCON level is raised, units begin their preparations listed in the installation Antiterrorism/Force Protection Plan, which outlines every step that should take place in such an event, said Michael Whittaker, Installation Antiterrorism Officer.
During the exercise the fire department, hospital, military police and criminal investigation division respond along with active units.
While the details of the exercise are exclusive, Whittaker wants everyone to know this is just an exercise.
"Preparedness is the whole thing, it's going to be going on, let your children know if they hear the sirens that it's an exercise," Whittaker said. "We will be very specific if it's not an exercise. If a real world event happens everything stops, safety is first. If you see or hear something in your neighborhood that is not usual, call us. There are very specific targets for the exercise."
On Tuesday the commander and staff and his Crisis Management Team meet for Phase II of the exercise, which is remediation and recovery. A few of the situations will be simulated, such as ruptured gas lines, loss of utilities and damaged buildings.
The staff and management team will go through processes and phone calls of getting everything back up and running and will also document the process.
"This is so, in a real emergency, we know what our short comings are and we can fix them. We are testing all of our abilities and individual unit's response," Whittaker said.
Units have been reviewing their action sets and plans for this exercise and to prepare for real world occurrences. Recent events in our country's history have taught us terrorism can be lurking around any corner.
"This is not, 'Mr. Rodgers Neighborhood' anymore. We have all kinds of domestic terrorism taking place," Whittaker said.
By reviewing the action set plans, units know what they are going to do to protect their units and areas at the different FPCON levels.
"If they don't have the physical assets or barriers needed or they need personnel to augment them, I need to know before the fact, not after," Whittaker said. "That's why we do all these tactical Tuesday exercises, we run them through individual FPCON measures and then we make them report it."
The Force Protection Exercise allows units, commanders and resource managers within Fort Rucker to practice skills needed to protect themselves and others within the Fort Rucker community.
It is very important to be aware of the exercise taking place, expect sirens and emergency activity on base," Whittaker said. "The targets will be specific, if you hear anything unusual, call 255-2222.
Also there may be short delays in traffic associated with the exercise, but training will be only minimally affected.
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