Base responds to mass casualty exercise Published June 25, 2010 By Airman 1st Class Chase Hedrick 14th Flying Training Wing Public Affairs COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- BLAZE Team members worked together to respond to a mass casualty exercise held here on June 17. Following the exercise much of the information gathered during the event was discussed in order to evaluate and improve the base's performance. The goal of the exercise, according to Maj. Stephen Dawson, Chief of the 14 Flying Training Wing Exercise Evaluation Team, was to prepare the base to deal with an unexpected attack from someone on the inside, termed an active shooter. Major Dawson called that kind of an attack a worst case scenario, but warned that it should be taken as a serious threat considering recent events. "This was kind of a walk phase. We've gone from a crawl to a walk and we're going into a run," Major Dawson said. He later stated that "I'd say that we went at a fairly brisk walk. We knew there were going to be issues with not everyone understanding the training they had received or maybe not being able to reach everyone with training." Communication and notification were two of the other issues that Major Dawson identified, but he still said that the exercise went very well. In order for BLAZE Team members to improve and prepare for the next exercise Major Dawson gave several suggestions. The first suggestion he had was making sure not to have the mentality of "Hey, it's never going to happen here." "Take it seriously," Major Dawson warned. Being aware of the specific procedures in one's workplace was another point Major Dawson brought up. He suggested speaking to a readiness representative. Major Dawson went on to say that if you have trouble finding a representative or the right information, members of the EET, your first sergeant, or your commander should be able to point you in the right direction. Major Dawson said that the most important lesson to be learned from the exercise is being sure to know your personal responsibilities. "From what we've seen from real world events and actual exercises is the actual event is over relatively quickly. So it is that personal action that's going to save you in that sort time frame," he said. "Aside from that, we've validated our responders, especially our security forces. They know their job and they're going to do it well but the point is they're responders, hence personal responsibility." Being pre-emptive instead of reactive was another important lesson Major Dawson brought up. "If you see something suspicious or you see folks in your workplace are maybe not acting right, it's your job to carefully make sure that that person is getting the proper help from the proper resources," he said. "Be aware of your surroundings." Major Dawson made sure to emphasize being tactful and not to overstep boundaries and authority when helping people in this manner. Major Dawson said that it is important to hold exercises like this because they validate the training, as well as expose weak areas that continue to need improve or be replaced with another or a better process. Major Dawson added "A lot of thanks go out to all the people who volunteered to be role players, I think they really made a huge difference. In general the attitude across the base towards the exercise across the base was good"