"On the 26th of February at 8:30 in the morning, we are going to initiate an active-shooter exercise in Area A at Bldg. 110," Garth Freund, 88th Air Base Wing exercise planner, said in a story published in the Skywrighter, the base newspaper. "Wright-Patt Security Forces, fire department and medical will respond."
Immediate action will be expected of everyone on the installation, and all should treat the active-shooter exercise scenario as though it is really happening, the base said in the Skywrighter news story.
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“Those in the immediate proximity of the active shooter should respond accordingly, which should be to run, hide and, as a last resort, fight,” the base said. “Meanwhile, those in both Areas A and B should go into lock-down mode or find a place of concealment and remain until the all-clear signal is given.”
Wing Inspection Team members will evaluate the response to the exercise throughout the entire installation, the base said.
The Installation Command Center will issue notifications via Giant Voice and other communication modes that the entire installation, both Areas A and B, is to be locked down.
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“Because this is an exercise, individuals should not call the 911 emergency telephone number,” the base said. “Emergency response agencies and dispatch centers from nearby communities, who would also respond during a real-world active shooter, have been notified by exercise planners. They have been told that an active-shooter exercise is occurring and exactly when it is to take place.”
“This is an exercise, a training event,” Freund said. “We don’t want off-base police or fire to respond to the base.”
For some, the experience may bring to mind what happened at the base in the summer of 2018.
In August 2018, a Wright-Patterson medical services employee called 911 to report that a jogger has been injured on the base. At the same time, an active shooter exercise at Kittyhawk area of the base was happening.
This is what started a “bleedover from exercise to real-world events,” according to a later account of the incidents.
The reports and impressions of what was happening at the base at the time led to multiple law enforcement agencies responding and to what a report later called “poorly planned and executed base-wide activity.”
In the confusion that August day, a military service member discharged multiple rounds of ammunition from an assault rifle, a report found.
In essence, that report, issued in late 2018, found that not all exercises were not clearly communicated to employees.
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