A given defense force commander is responsible for the safety and security of their base, including the base’s integrity, physical assets, civilian support, active duty personnel, and their dependents. In order to successfully fulfill these responsibilities, they’re constantly challenged to update their tactics, techniques, and procedures. Further, they need training that allows for rapid and seamless integration of all available security elements.

Enter PACAF’s annual High Risk Response (HRR) training which prepares its security forces for unpredictable and highly fluid situations.  Currently HRR training is focusing on the active shooter threat - a potential danger that’s incredibly volatile with immediate physical and long-term psychological consequences.  How does a defense force commander prepare their team for such a scenario? More to the point, how do they instill the requisite operational intensity during their exercises while also ensuring for adequate transfer of common tactical knowledge?

ANSER, an operating unit of Analytic Services, has been helping PACAF deliver such training since 2010.  Since coming aboard our team of seasoned security experts has:

• Provided realistic training scenarios involving contact, response, and recovery units
• Supplied pointed Concepts of Operations for base security commanders
• Presented detailed after action reports allowing for tangible improvement plans  
• Administered individual and unit-wide instructional mods that account for training hurdles throughout the chain of command

According to Colonel John McBrien, former Pacific Air Forces’ A7S Security Forces Division Chief, “When someone is physically inside a building shooting and killing, it’s a dynamic situation. You have to get in, find, and incapacitate the enemy as quickly as possible.” We’re confident our training support to A7S’s active shooter training efforts will help its personnel “get-in”, rapidly “incapacitate” the perpetrator, and sustain base and community safety.

Active Shooter Incidents and Preparing for Them

From the tragic incidents at Forts Hood and Bragg in 2009 and 2012, as well as the -tragedies at Virginia Tech University and in Aurora, Colorado, active shooter scenarios are proving to be wildly unpredictable with significant consequences.  In response to the Fort Hood episode, the Secretary of Defense directed an independent review which subsequently provided Protecting the Force: Lessons from Fort Hood, in January 2010. Protecting the Force, pointed to the robust preparedness of Fort Hood’s leadership but also “raised questions about the degree to which the entire Department is prepared for similar incidents….” Since the Fort Hood incident and the Report’s recommendations, training among all Department Defense tenants, including PACAF was stepped up and continues to this day.