Airmen increase emergency readiness

by Staff Sgt. Benjamin W. Stratton
92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs

4/7/2015 - FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. -- Airmen at Fairchild Air Force Base conducted an emergency management exercise March 30 that afforded them the opportunity to practice in a training environment the skills that save lives during emergency situations.

"We gear these exercises to give personnel a chance to see what is expected and the ability to perform it in a training environment," said Master Sgt. Gretchen Parsons, a 92nd ARW wing inspection planner. "This will better prepare Fairchild in case of a real world event."

To make the exercise appear more realistic, Fairchild "role players" were dressed up in moulage makeup applied to various body parts simulating an array of injuries creating unique emergency response scenarios.

"We try to control a lot of the variables in an exercise so we can focus on the objectives given by the base leadership," said Lt. Col. Osvaldo Lopez-Torres, the 92nd Air Refueling Wing inspector general. "Another benefit of [these] exercises is that we can make them as complex as possible while still maintaining a high level of realism so that if and when the incidents happen they are easier to handle than the practice."

This exercise included simulated explosions, an active shooter and a hostage situation. Fairchild conducts similar exercises regularly to maintain a high level of preparedness to ensure the installation is always able to provide responsive, precise air refueling and operational support for the full range of military operations.