Prepared for the unthinkable

  • Published
  • By Deidre Ortiz
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, TENN. --  An active shooter drill was recently held base wide at Arnold Air Force Base to ensure Arnold Engineering Development Complex's (AEDC) first responders, as well as general personnel, are prepared in the event of a real-life incident.

On Aug. 4, Arnold Police, Fire and Emergency Services personnel responded just as if an armed individual had actually been on the base and injured AEDC employees.

A mock press conference was also held, during which reporters from WSMV Channel 4 from Nashville, The Tullahoma News and LightTube/Channel 6 were on hand, in addition to AEDC Media and Public Affairs staff who posed as journalists. The reporters were given the opportunity to ask AEDC Commander Col. Raymond Toth questions about the nature of the exercise and its purpose.

Air Force Instructions require all installations to conduct exercises covering a range of crisis situations, one of them being an active shooter event.

Dan Johnson, the installation exercise program manager at AEDC, led the active shooter drill and later commented the primary goal during an active shooter incident is to mitigate the threat and minimize the loss of life.

"The active shooter exercise was designed to give the first responders and the base populace an opportunity to practice their procedures and identify areas for improvement. It is important for everyone on base to know what to do because each individual has to protect themselves until the first responders arrive and eliminate the threat," he said.

Rick Trull, emergency services manager at AEDC, stated that training and preparing for an active shooter situation is no different than preparing for any other catastrophe.

"Except for the fact that each of us can provide for our own safety in an active shooter situation to a degree by following the advice and training we have received," Trull said. "That advice and training is two-fold.

"First, if you are in the immediate vicinity of an active shooter event, run, hide or fight will be your options. These options are presented in logical order of sequence slanted toward the safety of the potential victims. If you are on base, but not in the immediate vicinity of the active shooter event, lock yourself in your facility and wait for further instructions."

Trull also advises it's important for base personnel to be prepared before an event occurs, by establishing various escape routes from their work stations or areas.

"Don't wait until an event occurs; it will be too late," he said. "Prepare a plan and practice it. Practice it to the point that you can find your way through your various escape routes, even in the dark. The best tool our base populace can have to deal with an active shooter event is prior planning and practice. That's why we conduct these exercises regularly. We can't afford to be ill-prepared; not as an installation, not as an organization and not as an individual."