JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSTIS,Va. –
Recently, active shooter events have taken over headlines in news outlets not only in the United States, but globally. Military bases are no exception to these tragedies.
Joint Base Langley-Eustis conducted active shooter exercises on Fort Eustis, Virginia, Feb. 21, 2019 and Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, March 27, 2019.
The purpose of both exercises was to execute plans, checklists, standard operating procedures and agreements with local external organizations in the event of an active shooter.
All units participating in the exercise were evaluated on incident reporting processes, installation command notifications, employment of emergency responses, execution of the base-wide lockdown and the Emergency Mass Notification System that communicates the emergency information base-wide.
“Each unit is responsible for having lockdown procedures in place in the event of an active shooter for their facilities that are under their command,” said U.S. Air Force Tech Sgt. Justin Rush, 633rd Security Forces Squadron, NCO in charge of Standardization and Evaluations. “This is a continuing threat. Each year there’s an active shooter incident, not even just across the United States, globally.”
All five wings participated in the exercise on Langley AFB. Mission partners participated on the Fort Eustis side, including the 733rd Mission Support Group.
The exercise began with the “Giant Voice” making a base-wide notification, along with AtHoc notifications being sent out to JBLE personnel. All participating personnel then went on “lockdown” for the duration of the exercise.
Rush said being complacent can lead to disaster in a situation like an active shooter.
“People need to be aware that this could be a strong possibility,” Rush said. “Unfortunately, we live in a day and age where we may actually be involved in some type of volatile situation involving an active shooter.”
According to Rush, in the future months, the 633rd SFS will be conducting more internal training to prepare for proper response and reaction during an active shooter event.
Senior Airman Hudson Aldrich, 633rd SFS response force leader, was part of the team that had to eliminate the threat and help the hostages once that was done. The four-man team responded to the active shooter call within seconds, and within minutes had eliminated the threat and cleared the area. Once the scene was safe, Aldrich and his team provided Self Aid Buddy Care to wounded people and carried out the hostages.
“We were ready to rock and roll,” said Aldrich. “Everybody did their part, everyone from the flight chiefs down to [the] law enforcement desk.”
The big take-away from the exercise is to make sure every unit has a solid lockdown plan, according to Rush. This includes knowing building layouts, accountability procedures and making sure all personnel know their roles. Lockdown procedures should be practiced frequently.
If any unit needs assistance developing a lockdown plan, they should contact the 633rd SFS on Langley or the 733rd SFS on Fort Eustis.