Photo By Molly Cooke | Soldiers from the 385th Military Police Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division participate...... read more read more
Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield trusted agents and first responders teamed up with local law enforcement agencies last week as part of an ongoing effort to ensure that the installation is prepared in the event of a crisis.
Stewart Guardian, an annual readiness exercise that takes place on both Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield, allows the installation to test their readiness through various real-world scenarios that involve multiple levels of emergency response and communication.
The scenarios - an active shooter on Fort Stewart and a minor aircraft crash involving a fuel spill on Hunter Army Airfield - were designed to test the memorandums of agreement that have been put in place with off-post agencies who support Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield, such as local law enforcement, fire and SWAT.
“Today we had an active-shooter exercise that took place across the installation,” said Lt. Col. Craig Giancaterino, Directorate of Emergency Services and battalion commander for the 385th Military Police Battalion. “These exercises help us test our systems not only in the Directorate of Emergency Services, but across the garrison. It allows us to involve our local law enforcement partners outside of our community to make sure we have the proper responses in place.”
While Stewart Guardian only took place over the span of a couple days, the exercise is part of a larger, ongoing operation to ensure the safety and wellbeing of those who work, live and train on Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield.
“These exercises allow us to verify that our standard operating procedures and plans are in place, ensuring they actually work,” said Randall “Mack” McPherson, Installation Security Manager for the Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security. “They also allow us to determine if there are any gaps or holes in those plans and SOPs. If so, we go back to the drawing board and develop procedures and processes to fill them. From there, we test and train the task again to see if the implemented changes worked.”
In addition to the Directorate of Emergency Services, on-post directorates identified subject-matter experts from within their agencies to help shape the exercises. These experts were also on hand during the events to evaluate the processes and actions taken during the simulations.
“To accomplish installation validation, exercises must have a certain level of rigor with triggers for specific tasks leading to expected actions of the players,” said Beau Bradley, DPTMS, Plans and Operations division. “This was accomplished through the dedication and commitment of our installation trusted agents. Moving forward, we plan to continue and strengthen these relationships.”
The conclusion of the simulation brought to light areas of improvement as well as elements to sustain in the event of a future crisis with the overarching theme being the successful teamwork brought forth by both on- and off-post agencies.
“I want to thank the exercise team and off-post agencies for making these such realistic scenarios,” Giancaterino said “The more realism we add to these scenarios the better we are trained. The more exercises we do, the better trained we get in order to ensure that Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield remain safes places to live, work and train while we protect the Rock of the Marne.”
| Date Taken: | 12.07.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 01.08.2021 15:21 |
| Story ID: | 386625 |
| Location: | GEORGIA, US |
| Web Views: | 63 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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