by Monty Campbell
Fort Hood (Now designated Fort Cavazos) Public Affairs
FORT HOOD (Now designated Fort Cavazos), Texas – Dozens of Fort Hood (Now designated Fort Cavazos) and Central Texas community first responders joined forces Feb. 6-8 for an active-shooter joint training exercise here.
The exercise brought together local municipal first-responders along with Fort Hood (Now designated Fort Cavazos) Directorate of Emergency Services soldiers and civilians who partnered for a three-day training event inside an on-post building formerly known as Duncan Elementary School.
The Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training was centered on “Active Attack Integrated Response” training and was used to test the combined ability of the Fort Hood (Now designated Fort Cavazos) community in response to an active-shooter incident.
Members of Fort Hood (Now designated Fort Cavazos)’s DES police and fire departments, 64th Military Police Company, 178th Military Police Company and 411th Military Police Company along with Killeen’s police and fire departments, Temple’s police department, and Harker Heights’ police department participated in the three-day exercise.
This training exercised the different roles of law enforcement, emergency medical service personnel and firefighters bring to a response.
The event began with classroom instruction on what to expect when there is an active shooter involved and concluded with the full-scale practical exercise. Whether it was an active shooter, hostage situation, casualties needing medical assistance or any other situation, attendees learned the proper response techniques.
This is the first time that this integrated training session has taken place, according to Fort Hood (Now designated Fort Cavazos)’s DES training coordinator Capt. Francis Meiron.
The lead instructor of the exercise, Jose Daniel Rosado, a nearly 5-year veteran of the Killeen Police Department, insisted that this is the leading edge of training that communities should start utilizing. Serving on the Violent Crime Action Team and Special Weapons and Tactics teams at KPD, Rosado was adamant about the effectiveness of this training.
“If we incorporate this and get this training to everybody, it’s a game changer for how officers and first responders are able to save lives,” Rosado explained. “Law enforcement…we’re great at stopping the killing but we’re not so great at stopping the dying. Because this is such a great tool to have, if we’re all on the same page, we can stop the dying and that’s the ultimate goal!”
First time attendee, Army Spc. Desiree Watson expressed her desire for training opportunities such as this to continue to be offered. She works as part of a traffic unit for the 178th Military Police Company and would be typically one of the first responders to such an event.
“I can honestly say this is well needed and we should do this more,” Watson said. “I like that they’re showing us different roles and that were all going through each role. Whether we’re EMS, whether we are patrol…it’s like walking a mile in their shoes.”
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