A simulated lone gunman appeared on the second floor of U.S. Military Entrance Processing Command (MEPCOM), Feb. 8, as part of a Solid Curtain-Citadel Shield 2017 (SC/CS17).

SC/CS17 is an annual Navy-wide anti-terrorism force protection exercise designed to train Sailors how to respond to various types of threats and emergency situations.

"It's a good exercise," said Jason Lewis, chief of Naval Station Great Lakes (NSGL) Fire Department. "We come away with excellent training points improving unification of our first responder elements."

MEPCOM hosted the active-shooter drill this year to give MEPCOM employees and military members the opportunity to get real experience in active shooter incidents. During the exercise, Sailors were dressed in moulage, and acted as active shooter victims. Each Sailor was assigned various roles including runners, victims, and those who were shell-shocked by the incident.

"We run these drills to improve our coordinated response," said Mark Wegge, NSGL training officer. "Integrating all the components of our first responders with our municipal and federal partners on various locations of the installation gives people a chance experience what would happen in a real incident."

Away from MEPCOM, several Sailors in the emergency operations center inside of Bldg.1 on NSGL practiced various emergency operations, coordinating with NSGL security forces to subdue the active-shooter just minutes into the exercise. The entire operation was a chance for Sailors from all aspects of NSGL to come together, hone their skills, and execute an installation-wide emergency plan in the most efficient manner possible.

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