HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. -- Hanscom AFB will conduct base exercise scenarios, testing its ability to respond to natural disaster scenarios, the week of Sept. 19 to evaluate the installation’s emergency response capabilities.
Personnel should anticipate disruptions to daily activities. Some customer service functions may be affected and there could also be traffic delays on the installation.
“It is critical for installation personnel to exercise skills that may have atrophied as a result of COVID posturing,” said Maj. Pierre LaPlume, director of Wing Inspections here. “While the posturing was important to maintain operations, it resulted in some types of disaster-response skills not having been exercised - except during table-top exercises - for nearly three years.”
Base officials are emphasizing safety to all involved, and if any real-world emergency takes place, they will stop the exercise immediately.
Wing Inspection Team members will monitor all scenarios and will be identifiable by blue vests.
“If a member of Team Hanscom sees something that he or she believes to be unsafe, they should report it to a WIT member immediately,” LaPlume said, adding that all WIT members have the ability to stop an event when safety is compromised.
If required as part of a scenario, personnel should dial 911 from a landline, or cellular device if available, and should preface the call with “EXERCISE EXERCISE EXERCISE.”
LaPlume said exercises such as these let inspectors see where strengths exist and where improvements need to be made as organizers work to make the exercise program more robust.
For questions or concerns prior to the exercise, base personnel should contact Hanscom’s Inspector General Office at 66.ABG.IG.Workflow@us.af.mil.