Chapel participates in active shooter exercise at JBLE

Members from the 633rd Security Forces Squadron, 633rd Medical Group and 633rd Air Base Wing Religious Affairs participated in an active shooter exercise at the chapel annex here on June 24, 2021.

The 633rd Air Base Wing Inspector General team hosted the exercise to test readiness tactics and communication skills of security and medical teams in the event of an active shooter.

“This was a unique opportunity for the chapel because it’s a realistic scenario,” said U.S. Air Force Capt. Ryan Ayers, 633rd Air Base Wing chaplain, chapel readiness and training.

“Our Chaplains and religious affairs Airmen see the most distraught people in their greatest time of need,” said Ayers “If people in need of help are thinking about harming themselves or harming others, then they would typically come here for guidance. If religious affairs staff can’t interact with them correctly, we are putting ourselves in danger.”

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. David Griffin, 633rd Security Forces NCO in charge of training, role-played as the active shooter. He pretended to be an Airman in need of counseling services from religious affairs and opened fire on personnel leaving two simulated victims for medical and security teams to rescue.

“As defenders, the most important objective we want to ensure is eliminating the threat,” said U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Paul White, 633rd Security Forces Squadron, section chief of standardization and evaluations.

“Beyond that, we focus on the after effects of the active shooter incident.  Did we secure the rooms, treat the wounded until medical personnel arrived on scene, and establish a crime scene for office of special investigation and other responding agencies? Those are some of the after effects of our scope of responsibility,” White said.

The training highlighted collaborative efforts between the different agencies to understand critical roles and responsibilities, tactics and an installation wide response; helping base agencies ensure they’re prepared in the event of an active shooter.