Security personnel assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower "Ike" (CVN 69) completed the first at-sea active shooter response training with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service's (NCIS) Security Training and Assessment Team (STAT), Dec. 16-18.

With orange dummy pistols in their hands, the masters-at-arms assigned to Ike moved silently and quickly through the ship's passageways, where they simulated clearing compartments of threats.

Richard McNeely, a retired Marine Corps gunnery sergeant, is several steps behind his new students, guiding them, instructing them to improve their form and helping them to increase their situational awareness when dealing with active shooter situations.

"We developed this course, Active Shooter Response, several years ago when U.S. Fleet Forces Command asked us to develop training that would ensure master-at-arms personnel would be able to approach situations with adequate knowledge to neutralize them," said McNeely, the physical security specialist who teaches NCIS' STAT course. "With all the activity that's going on in the world, nowhere is 100 percent safe anymore. Training must be done to accommodate that need."

The hands-on training, which typically occurs in traditional office and classroom settings ashore, is the first step in the pilot program. Since NCIS had never conducted the training aboard a ship before, the event presented its own unique set of challenges.

"The spaces were an obstacle for us and our students, but during a real-world situation, they will have to learn how to work around them," McNeely said. "This kind of training will benefit these Sailors in the long run, no doubt about it. They're learning how to navigate around ladderwells instead of stairwells. Passageways are a lot narrower than hallways in a building, and the overall dynamics of the ship are a lot different from rooms in buildings."

McNeely said the goal of the course is to reinforce self-confidence and foundational job knowledge needed to overcome the threat and to save as many lives as possible.

"We concentrate on muscle memory during the drills and being able to use weapons properly in a close-quarters environment," McNeely said. "So if they ever found themselves confronted with this sort of situation, they would respond instinctually."

After they were briefed on gun safety, the students practiced with air soft weapons engaging paper targets to improve their form and accuracy. Then they participated in a walkthrough course in which they cleared various compartments in a passageway.

"Doing this training has really brought home what it would be like in a real world scenario," said Master-at-Arms 2nd Class Gregory Arnold, a participant in the training course. "I'm starting to understand that team movements with my shipmates during this training are a vital part of communication-working toward a 'one team, one fight' sort of thing and getting the moves and the knowledge to be able to perform my job the best that I can."

Dwight D. Eisenhower is underway preparing for its upcoming deployment.

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