Fort Irwin takes on active shooter scenario

By Ms. Caroline N Keyser (Irwin)May 5, 2011

Active shooter exercise at Fort Irwin
1 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Active shooter exercise
2 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Active shooter exercise
3 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Active shooter exercise
4 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

If an emergency happens on Fort Irwin, the post has proven itself ready and able to respond well and quickly, officials say.

The installation took part in an active shooter exercise April 27 that was designed to test its ability to respond to an emergency situation. Nearly all units and civilian offices were involved in the daylong exercise, which also had participation from off-post agencies including the San Bernardino County Sherriff's Department, San Bernardino County Fire Department, and Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow Fire Department.

It was the fourth active shooter exercise Fort Irwin has participated in during the past 18 months, said Col. Jim Chevallier, Garrison commander.

"This was our best one to date," Chevallier said, adding that he was particularly impressed with how quickly the simulated casualties were evacuated.

The exercise featured a scenario in which a disgruntled employee entered the post and opened fire on an office of civilians, resulting in casualties and injuries. The shooter then made his way to the Landmark Inn, where he took several hostages and negotiated with members of a San Bernardino County SWAT team. To add to the confusion and further test the post, an unrelated fire was simulated at a fuel point at the rotational unit field maintenance area, and role players portraying eager reporters showed up at the post's front gate. The exercise concluded in the afternoon with the SWAT team freeing the hostages and apprehending the shooter in a hallway of the Landmark Inn. Chevallier and other post leaders held a simulated press conference for the media role players.

"All emergency response exercises are important to maintaining our readiness and to protecting the community," Chevallier said.

While Fort Irwin was already conducting emergency response exercises before the 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, post leaders have integrated some lessons learned from that tragedy into Fort Irwin's active shooter exercises, said Capt. Jason Kim, commander of the NTC Military Police Company. He cited changes, such as the creation of an installation operations center battle book, with helping make last week's exercise a success.