First responders on board Naval Air Station Meridian practiced their response to an active shooter situation Thursday as part of a two-week, Navy-wide training exercise encompassing bases throughout the country.

 

NAS Meridian’s security forces, fire and emergency services and emergency operations took part in the drill, along with others from both the naval installation and the surrounding community.

 

Installation Training Officer for NAS Meridian Justin Powell said the installation’s first responders have been tested in a variety of ways though the first week of the training operation, known as Citadel Shield, which began Feb. 3. Responders have gone through several scenarios such as drone attacks, unauthorized access to the base and the active shooter drill.

“We want to test and evaluate how they do to be able to determine our strengths and our weaknesses and develop training that will help us improve on this type of response,” he said.

 

Thursday’s training involved the use of blank ammunition, simulated casualties, noise and more to make the scenario as real as possible for the responders. Powell said exposing responders to those stimuli now will help them should they ever have to respond to a real active shooter event.

 

“This is the first time we’ve been able to operate in this location, which really does a lot for us. It makes sure our first responders have an awareness of what they may see if they had to respond to something like an active shooter here, and that’s important for our guys,” he said. “You never want to see, the first time you see something in a location, is when it happens for real. You want to be able to train on that so you know what to do when the real thing happens.”

 

Security Department Leading Petty Officer Calvin Jordon Green said NAS Meridian security forces train every Tuesday, but the larger drills provide additional realism and help officers learn how to coordinate with other first responders who will be responding in the event of an incident. The drills help security officers understand not only their own roles in an emergency response but also the larger picture of security, fire, medical and host of other teams that will be involved in a real emergency.

 

“It’s not if, it’s when,” he said. “Active shooters happen all over the United States throughout the year. We’re preparing ourselves so when it happens here we are ready to face it head on.”

 

NAS Meridian, however, is not alone in its emergency response, and additional resources will flow from the surrounding communities should an incident occur. Powell said the installation tries to include local first responders in its training whenever possible, but scheduling conflicts don’t always make that possible. Thursday’s active shooter drill, for example, was supposed to include the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s medical helicopter, but a real-life emergency prevented it from coming.

“We always try to play with our partner agencies from off the base,” he said. “Sometimes we’re able to do that. Sometimes it doesn’t work out.”

NAS Meridian Fire Chief Twaskie Graham said bringing in those outside agencies and building those partnerships is one of his favorite parts of the training. The installation, he said, is fortunate to have good community partners who will lend a hand if needed.

 

“The City of Meridian is gracious enough to send anytime we call, and Lauderdale County is gracious enough to, anytime we call, they come Johnny on the spot,” he said. “So it’s building that relationship not only with the community to help us, but the community also knows that if they need us, they can just call.”

 

While Citadel Shield exercises tested NAS Meridian’s response to threats against the installation itself, next week’s training, called Solid Curtain, will involve Navy-wide exercises. Green said the force protection exercises will prepare forces to act in response to a terrorist attack or other outside threat.