Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling will participate in the United States Fleet Forces Command annual anti-terrorism training exercise, Solid Curtain-Citadel Shield 2017, Jan. 30 through Feb. 10.
During the exercise, base personnel and residents may hear announcements or warning sirens over the JBAB Emergency Warning System and see messages on JBAB social media websites. Heightened security measures are also anticipated as the exercise continues.
“Some of the exercises and drills may include traffic delays or shutdown specific locations temporarily to let our first responders react to the event,” said Jeff Elwood, JBAB training officer, who is charged with coordinating the two-week event on base.
Elwood said he planned approximately 10-15 events which will occur on base throughout Solid Curtain-Citadel Shield 2017.
“We will run an active shooter event. We’ll also have a protest, crowd control, entry control point penetrations, bomb threats – anything that we could possibly have to respond to in the real world – we will try to capture during these two weeks,” he said.
Solid Curtain-Citadel Shield is not in response to any specific threat. It is a regularly scheduled Navy-wide exercise designed to test different regional anti-terrorism force protection operations.
“The whole intent is to give that feeling of realism for each scenario,” Elwood said. “We want our training to mimic real-world events so our first responders can train as they fight.”
All JBAB personnel, residents and visitors are asked to be patient throughout the exercise as it is a vital part of maintaining mission readiness, and it contributes to the overall safety of the JBAB Community. All training exercise messages will be preceded by “exercise, exercise, exercise” to ensure the activities are not mistaken for real-world events.
“As we enter into Solid Curtain-Citadel Shield I am confident that our JBAB first responders will meet and exceed the objectives set forth by our training personnel and our higher headquarters,” said JBAB Commander Navy Capt. Frank Mays.
“This annual exercise is our opportunity to test our command and control processes, as well as all of the essential base emergency support functions. The drills and scenarios planned for the next two weeks are vital when it comes to antiterrorism and force protection. They allow us to capture lessons learned and the best practices in a controlled, training environment, so that when real-world events occur, we can respond appropriately.”