MARINE CORPS AIR STATION CHERRY POINT, N.C. --
Only one day before
two American servicemen showed their mettle to the world helping to prevent a
possible mass shooting aboard a train from Amsterdam to Paris, two squadrons
based at Cherry Point conducted an active shooter drill to help Marines here improve
their reactions to an armed threat.
More than 50 Marines
with Marine Air Control Group 28 Headquarters and Marine Tactical Air Command
Squadron 28 participated in the active shooter drill. Two Marines from the
special reaction team with the Provost Marshal’s Office provided guidance
throughout the drill to optimize the simulation’s accuracy in depicting an
active shooter.
“One purpose of the exercise was to accomplish
our annual anti-terrorism force protection drill requirement for the ATFP program,”
said Capt. Eric Meeder, the
anti-terrorism force protection officer for MTACS-28. “We also needed to
validate our current ATFP active shooter procedures.”
Sgt. William B.
Ibarrondo, the intelligence chief for MACG-28, explained that he hopes that
there will be more exercises and training like this for his unit as they are
extremely beneficial.
Every unit conducts
an ATFP drill, explained Meeder. Some execute bomb handling drills and others
may participate in an active shooter drill. The drills are designed to test the
Marines ability to follow protocol for these scenarios in a controlled
environment.
“I hope the Marines
took a lot from our special reaction team members,” said Meeder. “Those guys
are making a conscious effort to get involved in the units. Their expertise is
really the icing on the cake for us.”
After the exercise,
the Marines with the SRT debriefed the participants about how they could
improve their procedures and stay alert.
Drills simulating a
state of emergency have proven to be effective in real life situations, said
Meeder. Marines will carry the knowledge they received here for the rest of
their careers.