Active shooter exercise tests base response Published Aug. 24, 2010 By Senior Airman Tong Duong 17th Training Wing Public Affairs GOODFELLOW AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- Belligerent and irate over a recent breakup, the jilted airman entered the Carswell Field House, where his squadron was conducting a mandatory urinalysis Aug. 19. Firing blindly with two 9mm pistols, he walked from room to room, stopping momentarily only to reload his guns. After expending 119 rounds, killing 14 people and injuring 30, the shooter took his own life with a final shot, marking the start of the active shooter exercise. The scenario was designed by base officials and Exercise Evacuation Team members to be played out much the same as the real-world incident at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas, last year. "This was the first active shooter exercise here," said Samuel Torbett, 17th Security Forces Squadron Exercise Evaluation Team lead person. "Because of the incidents stemming from Fort Hood, we wanted to see where we stood if such an incident was to happen here." For 36 hours, base personnel and key players were tested on their response. In the end, the wing performed well overall, but the exercise also helped uncover several areas that need work. "There were minor weak areas identified that we need to train on, such as victim accountability," Mr. Torbett said. "This was the same problem they had at Fort Hood. Any time you have an incident of that nature with casualties, it's hard to contain people as they're running out of buildings." For the most part, the emphasis of the exercise was to evaluate the after-incident process such as causality collection and accountability, mortuary affairs involvement, getting bodies to an autopsy point and crime scene security. While the exercise was geared toward Air Force members, with Goodfellow being a joint training base, other services had a chance to participate as well. "Every branch of service had a representative watching their members to see if they were following procedure," Mr. Torbett said. "The U.S. Army even gave us three-role players." Not only did the exercise test base members, the active shooter scenario involved initial responders from the San Angelo community. "The 17 SFS was able to roll into their reception plan, bringing follow-on forces to assist with the wing's after-incident actions," Mr. Torbett said. "The local responders stood up their emergency operations center to support the wing and we had representatives from San Angelo's fire department, the San Angelo police department and the Tom Green county justice of the peace. After an initial disconnect with communication between military and civilian responders, a liaison from the base was sent to the off-site EOC to clear up terminologies. "Military members speak with a lot of acronyms," Mr Torbett explained. Shannon Medical Center also participated by flying on base with their air medical life flight helicopter to transport wounded personnel to local hospitals. As a result of the exercise, the local hospitals also identified some areas for improvement. "Shannon Medical Center appreciates the opportunity to work with our partners in the community to prepare for emergencies," said Matthew Berry, Shannon Medical Center Trauma Program manager. "The exercise tested multiple components of our emergency operations plan including communications. An area for improvement is developing a line of communication between Shannon Medical Center and Goodfellow's Incident Command." While a real-world situation and a simulated environment are two different scenarios, the response and performance from all agencies was better than anticipated, Mr. Torbett noted. "The initial response from the first responders went off without a hitch," he said. "It was almost text book. I think the heightened awareness of active shooter incidents helped prepare them. I think that if something like this were to ever happen, we are doing to drop back on how we have trained to handle it."
