April exercise tests Maxwell-Gunter readiness, response

Members of the Maxwell Fire Department assist with the rescue of a 908th Airlift Wing aircraft maintenance member who passed out from fumes while inspecting the interior of a C-130 Hercules fuel tank. The scenario was part of the Maxwell-Gunter April base exercise. (U.S. Air Force photo by Jamie Pitcher)

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April exercise tests Maxwell-Gunter readiness, response

With the help of his Military Working Dog handler, Airman 1st Class Lashaun Etheridge, 42nd Security Forces Squadron MWD Nero searches Maxwell's building 804 for a bomb. (U.S. Air Force photo by Jamie Pitcher)

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April exercise tests Maxwell-Gunter readiness, response

Published April 24, 2009
By Carl Bergquist
Air University Public Affairs

MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. -- The multiple scenarios of Maxwell-Gunter's April base exercise tested capabilities of base personnel and first responders, and the results were good, said the Base Exercise Evaluation Team chief.

"There are always areas for improvement, but at the end of the day, the base responded in a satisfactory manner," Gary Looney said. "We stretched and stressed their assets to the limit, and base members handled it well."

He said the mental health portion of the exercise, involving a distraught patient holding a person at knife-point, went very well, and while some additional sexual assault response coordinator training and awareness is still needed, the SARC exercise also went fairly well.

In another scenario, a member of an aircraft maintenance team was overcome by fumes while inspecting the inside of a fuel tank on a 908th Airlift Wing C-130 Hercules. First responders reacted "very well" to the situation, extracting the victim from the fuel tank and sending him to the hospital.

"Regarding the bomb threat portion of the exercise, this is the first time I can remember where we had four separate events going on simultaneously," Mr. Looney said. "A perpetrator called in bomb threats to three buildings on base and also robbed the credit union."

He said Maxwell-Gunter emergency management personnel responded well to the four events, successfully setting up cordons for the bomb threats, but base members need to be more aware of threat cards that should be next to each base telephone.

"There is a reason for these quick reference threat cards for SARC, bomb threats, anthrax threats and so forth, and that is to give base members guidance if these situations occur," Mr. Looney said. "Please have the cards ready at each telephone, follow the check lists and go with it."

The next base exercise will be conducted the week of May 4 through 8, and will involve a "Hurricon" event in preparation for the upcoming hurricane season that runs June 1 to Nov. 30, he said.

"Announcing this part of the exercise to base members and employees shouldn't come as a surprise, as in a real-world hurricane threat everyone would be aware well in advance of the danger to the base," Mr. Looney said. "With the hurricane season approaching, it will be a good review of what to do in the event Maxwell-Gunter falls in the path of a hurricane."