HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. – Hanscom AFB will conduct exercise scenarios the week of March 25 to evaluate the installation’s readiness.
Although much of the activity will be in limited areas of the base, participants will be using blanks and smoke generators to simulate real-world events. These activities might be seen and heard around the base, and organizers don’t want personnel to be alarmed. However, they stress that keeping the activities closely aligned to real-world situations is important.
“Exercises such as these position Hanscom to be as ready as possible for any real-world situations,” said Lt. Col. Nathan Markley, Hanscom’s director of Inspections. “This gives our evaluators a chance to look at areas where we may need improvement.”
He added that if any real-world situation happens, exercise activities would immediately halt and officials would notify base personnel. Organizers have emphasized, and will continue to emphasize, safety to all participants. Wing Inspection Team members will be monitoring all events, and if any member of Team Hanscom sees an unsafe practice taking place during the exercise, he or she should report it immediately to a WIT member, identifiable by blue vests. All WIT members have the ability to stop the exercise.
As a reminder, 911 calls from cell phones are routed to off-base emergency personnel and should only be used for real-world emergencies. For questions or concerns on exercise events, contact the WIT at 781-225-1317 or 781-225-1300.