FORT RUCKER, Ala. (August 13, 2015) -- Vigilance is a word often heard across military installations, but it's not enough for emergency responders to be vigilant -- they must also be proficient.
That's why Fort Rucker is conducting its annual all-hazards exercise in the form of an active shooter scenario Aug. 18-20 to make sure the installation's finest are prepared to take on the threat, according to Willie Worsham, Fort Rucker emergency manager.
"The installation will be conducting an active shooter exercise to test the installation's capability to respond to that type of scenario," Worsham said. "Somewhere on post there will be a scenario where there is a shooter and emergency responders, including police, firefighters, (emergency medical technicians) will have to respond to the incident as if it were a real-world event. There will be 100-percent accountability for certain units on the installation."
Fort Rucker will also work with some of its Wiregrass partners, as first responders and emergency management personnel from the surrounding communities will also be involved, including the Enterprise Police Department, the Coffee County Sherriff's Department and other law enforcement.
Ambulances will come from Enterprise to test their response times, as well as the ability for Fort Rucker to test its triage procedures with the responders.
The scenario itself will be fairly realistic, according to Worsham, complete with weapon simulators that will simulate the sound of live-fire ammunition, as well as casualties with varying degrees of injuries that will require treatment.
"With everything that's been going on around the country, we just want to make Fort Rucker ready to respond to something like that if it happens," he said.
People can expect minor delays at the gates, which will be closed in response to the exercise for three to five minutes, but the exercise itself shouldn't disrupt the daily activities of the installation, said the emergency manager.
"The area that the exercise will be conducted will be away from any major roads on the installation, so it shouldn't interfere with people's daily routine," he said. "For everyone else it will be business as usual."
After the initial boots-on-the-ground day, an after-action-review is typically performed in the following days to assess the response of the installation and emergency responders, said Worsham, adding that a full-scale AAR with the installation command group will take place in September.
"From that we will figure what we need to change in our plans to make our response better and to make sure that we don't have any holes in our capabilities," he said. "Within 60 days of the exercise, we also have to have our report ready to send up to Installation Management Command for review. The work does not end for us on the day of the exercise."
The need for exercises like the active shooter scenario stems from home-grown and foreign terrorist threats, and Worsham said no matter how unlikely a scenario may seem, it's always best to be prepared.
"Terrorists are getting smarter every day, and we just want to make sure that we are up on the most up-to-date techniques for handling situations like this," he said. "It seems like we learn something new every time.
"Every time we do this, we learn more capabilities from the partners of our mutual aid agreements can do to help us," he continued. "With us continuing to do exercises together, it makes us a lot more proficient at what we do."
Small exercises, similar to the active shooter scenario, are conducted across the installation throughout the year by individual units and organizations, but this is the one time of year a full-scale exercise that encompasses all aspects of response is tested, and Worsham said it's important for responders to be prepared for anything.
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