Pearl Harbor Anti-Terrorism Exercise Trains Emergency Personnel
Navy NewsStand
Story Number: NNS080828-06
Release Date: 8/28/2008 4:54:00 PM
By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Paul D. Honnick, Fleet Public Affairs Detachment Hawaii
PEARL HARBOR (NNS) -- Emergency and law enforcement personnel responded to a series of mock terrorist attacks on Naval Station Pearl Harbor (NAVSTA PH) Aug. 20 as part of Anti-Terrorism Field Training Exercise (AT FTX) 2008.
AT FTX is an integrated, quick-reaction, scenario-driven event held on NAVSTA PH to train personnel in the rapid assessment and response to escalating levels of alert and terrorist threats and attacks.
"Terrorism is a reality," said Capt. Richard Kitchens, commanding officer of NAVSTA PH. "These exercises are essential in validating our plans and improving our ability to respond decisively and effectively to a terrorist attack."
The exercise involved the integration of naval security forces (NSF), a force protection training team (FPTT), a federal fire department (FFD), Navy Environmental and Preventive Medicine Unit 6 (NEPMU 6), Explosive Ordnance Detachment Middle Pacific (EOD DET MIDPAC), Naval Criminal Investigation Service (NCIS), NAVSTA PH Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and the Regional Operations Center (ROC).
The training scenario involved simultaneous responses to the explosion of a mock improvised explosive device and to a mock chemical threat that caused several casualties. Immediately following the incidents, Kitchens temporarily ordered the Force Protection Condition (FPCON) level be set at Delta as part of the drill.
"The exercise was designed to ensure our response plans are adequate and executable, to practice our actions, and to test our ability to train ourselves," said Kitchens. "By critically examining our adequacy in each phase, we identify improvements we will make that will ensure we are as ready as we can be to respond decisively and effectively in the event of an actual terrorist attack."
Base security personnel were the first to respond to the incidents followed by the FFD, who triaged participating Sailors' simulated injuries and provided medical care.
Police apprehended the driver of the truck and called in the FFD's hazardous materials (HAZMAT) team to investigate the white power and liquid.
The HAZMAT team set up a decontamination station onsite and collected samples of the suspected chemical/biological threats and delivered them to NEPMU 6 for testing.
The personnel participating in the exercise had responded to and successfully contained the crisis by early afternoon.
"We were able to effectively and safely plan and run a challenging terrorist exercise scenario that allowed us to validate our plans and assess our response efforts, so I think we can say the exercise was clearly a success," said Kitchens. "Perhaps more importantly we were successful in identifying where and how we can improve."
According to Kitchens, teamwork played a vital role in the success of the exercise.
"Teamwork is a fundamental competency that underpins the entire spectrum of what it takes to conduct an exercise like this. More importantly, this exercise again demonstrated that only through effective teamwork will we be able to respond effectively in the event of an actual terrorist attack."
Kitchens stressed the importance of anti-terrorist force protection training and the threat of terrorism.
"Terrorist attacks are an unfortunate reality in a free and open society like ours," he explained. "Only by putting in the hard work and accepting some of the inconveniences necessary to practice how we will respond, can we build the teamwork and hone the skills necessary to minimize the impact of such an attack to our people and our mission."
For more news from Commander, Navy Region Hawaii, visit www.navy.mil/local/cnrh/.
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