Naval Air Station Meridian conducted a large-scale active shooter exercise onboard the installation on Wednesday, Feb. 7, as part of an annual two-part Navywide force protection exercise called Citadel Shield-Solid Curtain (CS-SC24), which began Feb. 5 and will go through Friday, Feb. 16.

Nearly 80 military and civilian personnel were involved in the active shooter exercise, including the Naval Security Forces, Fire and Emergency Services, Emergency Operations Center, Public Affairs and the Safety Department. The Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Department, Metro Ambulance and University of Mississippi Medical Center’s AirCare 2 flight crew also participated.

CS-SC24 is a regularly scheduled exercise of the Navy and is not being held in response to any specific threat, according to a prepared statement from NAS Meridian.

The drill is an important annual exercise designed to ensure the Navy’s people and security forces are at peak readiness to deter and respond to potential security threats. The exercise evaluates and assesses the force protection conditions, command and control, and existing, as well as new, capabilities to evaluate how to respond to multi-dimensional security threats.

The active shooter exercise utilized realistic scenarios with 30 military members portraying victims and bystanders to help identify areas of improvement in procedures and decision-making processes. It also aimed to strengthen the base’s response as one joint war-fighting team and its work with partner agencies from off the installation, according to the statement. The exercise tested information dissemination, individual response plans, security force response, and Naval Air Station Meridian’s ability to coordinate with local emergency responders and the community.

Other exercise events scheduled during the two weeks will simulate realistic threat scenarios, such as unauthorized base access and improvised explosive devices.

According to the Navy base, this two-part approach is designed to enhance the readiness of U.S. Navy security forces and ensure seamless interoperability among the commands, other services and agency partners in order to protect life, equipment and facilities.