Soldiers and Department of Defense civilians from Joint Force Headquarters -- National Capitol Region and the U.S. Army Military District of Washington and the Fort Belvoir Community Hospital, practiced emergency response drills Sept. 13, 2016, during a mass casualty (MASCAL) and active shooter response exercise at the Fort Belvoir Community Hospital as part of Capital Shield 2016.
The exercise is designed to test and evaluate joint operations, techniques, procedures, and command and control relationships. The goal of the exercise is to ensure that government agencies at every level are prepared to take coordinated action to protect the public in the event of an actual emergency caused by either natural, or man-made, disasters inside the National Capital Region.
"Part of the training scenario for Capital Shield this year includes a Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear (CBRN) event that triggered a MASCAL of 30 to 40 patients at Fort Belvoir Community Hospital, while two armed assailants hide with the victims to escape," said John Lease, JFHQ-NCR Special Reaction Team (SRT) program manager. "The certification is important at hospitals. In 2010, a man at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore was despairing over the poor medical outcome of his grandmother, so he decided to go there and kill her, and then shot the physician, wounding him and then committed suicide. This man was 50 years old, lived in Virginia, and had a permit to carry [a handgun]. That incident really hit home because even in our own backyard it can happen. That's why we selected this location for this exercise. It's very relevant for the installation and our teams to do this."
Capt. Arthur Mcintosh, company commander, 55th Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) Company, Fort Belvoir, Virginia, facilitated MDW's SRT training with EOD support.
"We've seen [from real world events] the use of suicide vests, and suspicious packages, like at the Boston marathon bombings. We will have multiple items that will need to be quickly and effectively searched for any explosive hazards and rendered safe. The partnership between SRT, EOD, and K-9 has become that much more important in the past few years," said Mcintosh.
The partnership between the various responding units, and responding to a hostage scenario was a focus for 1st Lt. Ryan Tyrie, 289th Military Police Company and MDW, SRT Officer in Charge. "One of the big things we've been working on as a team has been to provide an all hazards approach to respondents, which means incorporating elements of EOD, Medic, and K-9 on one stack, so we can have whatever tool we need to respond immediately," said Tyrie. "Having everyone on hand is enormously important. It's paramount to success not having to wait. Time is something you can't get back in this situation."
The SRT also conducted systematic clearing of rooms which is a mandatory skill for all team members. Wesley Little, Tactical Liaison Officer for Fort Belvoir said, "In these situations, your initial first responders will be law enforcement. At Fort Belvoir Community Hospital if there had been an actual active shooter they would be the first people on the scene. If someone goes into a room with a hostage or they go into a room and block the door, this type of situation would exceed the capabilities of your standard patrol officer. We have the team, which comes with the full suite of equipment and gear that's needed to address any situation, for example a suspect with a suicide vest. That's also why we have our EOD element with us to clear that, bypass it, and move on."
MDW is scheduled to have additional Capital Shield exercises at various locations throughout the NCR until Sept. 23.
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