The exercise was unrelated to any current threats, but was designed to enhance the training and readiness of Navy security personnel and better prepare Department of the Navy (DoN) personnel for potential force protection situations.

“It’s important that we constantly evaluate our response procedures to a variety of realistic threats to enhance our personnel and force-wide readiness,” said NAS Pensacola Installation Training Officer Erich Brinkmeier. “These exercises test information dissemination, individual response plans, security force response and our ability to coordinate with local emergency responders and the community.”

The exercise included an unmanned aerial surveillance exercise and an active shooter drill, each of which members of the NAS Pensacola Anti-Terrorism Training Team (ATTT) used to gauge readiness from responding NAS Pensacola Naval Security Forces personnel.

“As an installation, it’s critical that we remain prepared for any potential threat,” said NAS Pensacola Commanding Officer Capt. Terry ‘Village’ Shashaty. “These exercises test our readiness to communicate efficiently across all departments and ensure the safety and security of our service members, their families and visitors to the installation.”

For more than one hundred years, NAS Pensacola, referred to as the Cradle of Naval Aviation, has supported the operational and training missions of tenant commands, including Naval Air Technical Training Center (NATTC), Naval Aviation Schools Command (NASC), the Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training (CNATT), Marine Aviation Training Support Groups
(MATSG) 21 and 23 and is the headquarters for Naval Education and Training Command (NETC).