Active shooter exercise strengthens joint-base security

Published June 9, 2011
By Airman 1st Class Bryan Swink
Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Public Affairs

JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst spent much of June 2 on lockdown as the installation held an active shooter exercise for the second time within the last six months.

The exercise tests the joint base's ability to respond to an active-shooter event, similar to the attack at Fort Hood, Texas, when a gunman opened fire in 2009.

The JB MDL community was made aware an exercise would be happening, but few knew the magnitude of base-wide involvement.

"The exercise was truly a joint effort because of the participation of mission partners throughout the joint base," said Bob Scherer, 87th Air Base Wing Plans and Evaluations Office Exercise Evaluation Team chief.

The exercise kicked off around 9 a.m. with a bomb threat at a building on Lakehurst. Tom Szallai, Joint Base Business Office, received the unrehearsed call and took the correct actions including calling 9-1-1, recording the required information about the caller and the bomb and initiating the building evacuation, said Scherer.

Members of the 87th Security Forces Squadron, including military working dogs with bomb-detection capabilities, responded to the call. They took control of the situation and performed their mission. The 87th Civil Engineer Squadron Explosive Ordinance Disposal team then responded and cleared the suspected bomb.

The exercise wrapped up with all teams working together to ensure the situation was controlled and all steps were completed at Lakehurst.

But where was the active shooter?

The bomb threat was a diversion by the two role-player suspects for the simulated drive-by shooting attack at the JB MDL Exchange bus stop. The shooters continued their drive of "terror" and made their way to the Griffith Field House.

The joint base responded immediately to the reported incident, increasing threat conditions and force protection levels.

"Lockdown procedures were implemented, some better than others, but we noticed a significant amount of participation and cooperation throughout the joint base," said Scherer.

The security forces first responders eliminated the threats at the field house, saving the lives of other members of the joint-base community.

"This was truly a joint effort of all our first responders," said Scherer. "Security forces eliminated the threat and secured the scene, the 87th Medical Group provided lifesaving care to the wounded, the Office of Emergency Management provided on scene communications for all elements and the Joint Base Fire Department provided command and control at the scene as the overall incident commander.

"In fact, the FBI agent working the exercise, in conjunction with our Air Force Office of Special Investigation agent, stated our incident commander was one of the best he'd seen," he continued.

Even the patrons at Griffith Field House who, without notice were caught up in the exercise, participated as if it was a real situation.

"They displayed cooperation with security forces and acted as if they would have in a real situation," said Scherer. "Some went so far as to offer first aid to the simulated wounded."

Training for similar real-world situations is practiced by all Department of Defense installations. Scherer said no other event may be as important as the active shooter exercise in saving lives.

"With the world we live in today, this is quite possibly the situation we are most likely to face," he said. "It is important everybody is on the same page if a real-world situation ever happened."

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