Commander, Navy Region Southwest (CNRSW) military and civilian employees participated in a simulated active shooter exercise in the Broadway complex in San Diego, Feb. 3.

This exercise gave more than 200 participating Sailors, government employees and contractors an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the Navy's Run-Hide-Fight training in a practical application.

"When they talk run, hide, fight, what does that mean?" said NRSW Exercise Program Manager Jerry Blunck. "Going into the workspace actually demonstrating what it means to barricade yourself, and hide in a spot so you conceal yourself. Having law enforcement come through and actually demonstrate how they would interact with you is priceless when it comes to helping folks feel more prepared in the event of an active shooter situation."

Kicking off the interactive training, San Diego Harbor Police teams conducted simulated fire demonstrations with an M4 to familiarize personnel with the sound of gunshots. Naval Base San Diego (NBSD) military police, in conjunction with Naval Criminal Investigation Services (NCIS) also helped conduct this all-hands training demonstration with the focus on preparing building occupants for the unlikely event of an active shooter incident.

This is the first time CNRSW has held an active shooter exercise where the focus was on employee response, and not solely on law enforcement response.

"The FBI released some statistics that show 60 percent of all active-shooter events end before law enforcement arrives," said Blunck. "If that's the case, that means law enforcement is only dealing with the actual threat 40 percent of the time, but 100 percent of the time employees in a particular location have to deal with that threat."

Law enforcement teams then went to each floor's designated area where employees had barricaded themselves awaiting help. The teams proceeded to clear each room in search of threats. Once the room was cleared, law enforcement gave participants feedback on their response followed by a discussion on proper evacuation procedures.

Blunck said this interactive scenario came about because of feedback following real world incidents.

"We've all done online active shooter training," said Blunck. "It's very different doing it on a computer screen. All the after action reports from real world incidents indicate that people need practical application training."

This training, according to Blunck, is preparation for a bigger interagency exercise coming up later this year. In the meantime, he admits active shooter situations are "here to stay." He advises people to have situational awareness not only at work, but in their daily lives.

While this training was not mandatory, Blunck said he's thankful for the employees who participated.

"They showed the initiative and desire to improve their own readiness," Blunck said. "We can't do this without them."

For more news from Commander, Navy Region Southwest, visit www.navy.mil/.