FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. --
Airmen across Fairchild Air Force Base responded to a simulated active shooter scenario Aug. 21, reinforcing installation readiness and testing crisis communication and emergency response procedures.
U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Benjamin Indahl, 92nd Security Forces Squadron NCOIC of standards and evaluations said the training was about more than just checking boxes, it was about saving lives.
“With every exercise, we learn new ways to make responses smoother,” Indahl said. “We call it ‘putting tools in your tool belt.’ Every time you learn something that could benefit you in a time of extreme stress, it may save a life.”
This year’s scenario focused on quickly neutralizing the threat and sweeping the area for victims or additional shooters. The contact team located the shooter after hearing simulated gunfire, secured the scene when the role player “self-eliminated” and pressed on to clear the building.
Indahl explained that evaluating how information flows between responders, command post and leadership is a crucial part of the exercise.
“Sometimes radios don’t work, and we see how the team can adapt, but on this one they did a great job passing on all important info,” he said. “The Base Defense Operations Center notifies the SFS commander, who determines if this could be a standalone incident or something bigger. If it’s part of a large-scale attack, then the commander can recommend Force Protection Condition changes to secure Fairchild’s assets.”
The exercise also exposed timing shortfalls in notifications across the base. It took three minutes for BDOC to [receive a call from]] 911 after simulated shots rang out, and several minutes for the base-wide lockdown message to go out through AtHoc, an emergency mass notification system used to deliver critical alerts and updates to personnel. Indahl said working through these delays is exactly why exercises matter.
“Usually in times of high stress, defenders must learn to adapt to bad [information] and try and solve the problems as best they can. That’s why we train,” he said. “I do feel this one went 100 times better than the last one, as we learned from the prior mistakes.”
Beyond Security Forces, the exercise highlighted how every Airman plays a role in keeping the base safe.
“Anyone at any time could be in a situation where shots ring out,” Indahl said. “When real stress hits, our brains automatically do what we were last trained to do. If we can train civilians to lock down and give good descriptions of what they saw, and train SFS to respond as trained, it may result in saving a life, which is the ultimate goal.”
Fairchild will continue to conduct regular wing-wide exercises like this to build resilience, strengthen communication and ensure every Airman is prepared to respond when it matters most.