Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield holds integrated protection exercise

Photo By Edward Blackmon | First responders huddle at the incident command post on Hunter Army Airfield as they work to resolve a hostage situation during the integrated protection exercise March 21. The IPE was built to give the Directorate of Emergency Services police and fire services multiple reps at practicing harrowing situations, including active shooter response and hostage situations.  

FORT STEWART, GA, UNITED STATES

03.22.2024

Story by Christopher Fletcher 

Fort Stewart Public Affairs Office

First responders, emergency managers and tenant partners honed their skills responding to a variety of emergencies and threats on Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield March 20-21.

Installation leadership directed an integrated protection exercise to validate the installation’s ability to respond in a crisis. Critical to this response is the ability to call on community partnerships established outside the gates of Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield.

“Look, we’re one community, here, Fort Stewart, and the counties and cities on the outside. We can expect that symbiotic relationship to continue,” said Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield Deputy to the Garrison Commander Steve Hood.

Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield is required to validate its emergency preparedness with exercises throughout the year, leading up to an annual full-scale exercise. Each exercise tests multiple directorates across the installation to assess how the staff integrates together to use prescribed policies and procedures to respond to complex situations.

“If the first time you have to do something- some type of emergency is during an emergency, it’s going to fail.” said Jeff Bergeron, the emergency contingency planning officer with the Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield U.S. Army Garrison Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security. “You have to practice; it has to be muscle memory. If it’s not muscle memory, something’s going to happen, and it’s going to happen bad.”

The two-day exercise, built to give the Directorate of Emergency Services police and fire services multiple reps at practicing harrowing situations, including active shooter response and hostage situations, allowed other garrison directorates to exercise crisis response skills too. For example, both installations were faced with power outages and cyber threats.

“All in an effort to hone our skills, to learn how to work together, and to communicate during times of tragedy or emergencies like we are simulating here,” Hood said.

Liberty County Sheriff’s Office, Hinesville Police Department, Army Criminal Investigation Division, the Savannah Police Department, and Canoochee Electric Membership Cooperative as well as other off-post agencies participated in the exercise reinforcing the mutual aid agreements established for situations demonstrated during the exercise.

• Date Taken: 03.22.2024
• Date Posted: 03.22.2024 11:01
• Story ID: 466847
• Location: FORT STEWART, GA, US