Photo By Petty Officer 2nd Class Sonja Wickard | 190205-N-HV059-1072 WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (Feb. 5, 2019) Members of the York County Fire...... read more read more
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WILLIAMSBURG, Va.--Naval Weapons Station Yorktown and Cheatham Annex security forces and Navy Region Mid-Atlantic Fire and Rescue worked with York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office and York County Fire Emergency Services Department to run an active shooter drill during the anti-terrorism force protection exercise Citadel Shield/Solid Curtain 2019 (CSSC19), Feb. 5, 2019.
CSSC19 is a force protection exercise conducted by Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command (USFF) and Commander, Navy Installations Command (CNIC) on all Navy installations in the Continental United States to enhance the training and readiness of Navy security personnel as well as establish a learning environment for security personnel to exercise functional plans and operational capabilities.
“This large exercise, which is nationwide for U.S. Fleet Forces Command, is how we practice,” said Captain Matthew A. Kosnar, the installation commander for Naval Weapons Station Yorktown (NWSY). “For installations, this is our big exercise to get ready to combat these types of situations. Not just individually per base, but over the two weeks, we’ll additionally practice how to connect the dots between bases, to fight back broadly.”
This exercise also gives military bases the opportunity to work with and strengthen partnerships with local law enforcement. Enhancing their ability to operate together.
For Master-at-Arms 3rd Class James Phelps the drill was the first time he’d worked with an outside law enforcement agency. Phelps was impressed by how smoothly he and the other Navy participants were able to integrate with the officers on the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office Emergency Response Team.
“The drill went well today, better than we expected,” said Phelps. “For my partner and I, who’ve never worked with an outside entity, to go in to that building and have no issues working with them to clear the building, I think it was a great plus for the security forces and York-County and all the training that we’ve received that it all comingles no matter what your training background is.”
K9 Officer Brett Coleman, who was part of the Emergency Response Team that went in to clear the building the shooting suspect was in, felt that he and his Navy security counterparts were able to work well together when it came to how to clear the building.
“When you’re coming in and clearing a building, it’s about the same. Once the shots stop, we slow down and go slow and methodical and clear,” Coleman said. “Shots pick up again and we move to active threat. And that’s what you all do because you were moving up as well. It worked pretty seamless, in that aspect. We were almost on the same page getting upstairs. I asked one guy to hold a hallway, he held a hallway. Me and the other guys cleared back behind us then we started working that hallway and that’s when we ran into the suspect.”
During the drill, responders made use of four drones brought that were operated by the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office, providing those in the mobile command center also set up by the Sheriff’s office a live feed of not just the outside of the building where the suspect had barricaded himself and several others, but the interior as well.
“Something Naval Weapons Station Yorktown is pretty good at across the board is that we work hard and have a really great relationship with local authorities and in particular the York-Poquoson Police and Sheriff’s Office and the York County Fire Emergency Services Department,” Kosnar said.
That relationship meant that the York-Poquoson Police and York County were able to use the active shooter drill to put into practice something they had never done before. Send in a team of emergency first responders to provide first aid to any wounded personnel before the situation is declared safe.
According to Kosnar utilizing the ability of the drones to gather intelligence in real time will greatly increase situational awareness of Navy security forces, first responders and those directing them.
“The more eyes on target the better sense we have of what’s happening,” Kosnar said. “As we attack one thing on base the other thing the drone helps with the feed and with the better situational awareness is as the Navy and the military pieces together. If there’s an attack on one base and it’s simply a diversionary tactic, you can piece together broader pieces across more than one base if you’re able to connect all these points. Practicing that today makes us better for that tomorrow.”
Exercise CSSC19 is the largest force protection exercise across the Department of Defense and consists of roughly 130 simultaneous field-training exercise attacks across the country.
CSSC is not in response to any specific threat, but is a regularly scheduled exercise.
| Date Taken: | 02.05.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 02.08.2019 10:38 |
| Story ID: | 309996 |
| Location: | WILLIAMSBURG, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 341 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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