The aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) conducted an active shooter drill leading to a mass casualty drill aboard the Floating Accommodation Facility (FAF) May 4.

An active shooter could lead to a mass casualty situation, so George Washington's Security and Medical departments came together to train.

The drills began with an active shooter, a disgruntled security member who shot the FAF brow sentry and the FAF Junior Officer of the Deck (JOOD,) then went into the galley and injured 15 more Sailors.

"The goal for Security was to assess our watchstanders and our Primary and Secondary Reaction Force in their tactical team movements, their knowledge of the Deadly Force Triangle and their ability to apply that knowledge in a drill setting," said Master at Arms 2nd Class Ryan Adamson.

It is important for a security force to maintain it's readiness to respond to an emergency situation, which is why George Washington conducts drills such as Active Shooter and Mass Casualty.

"Our team moved well together," said Adamson. "They knew how to communicate with eachother and the Anti-Terrorism Tactical Watch Officer (ATTWO) and they were able to apply deadly force in a reasonable amount of time and justify the use of deadly force."

Once Security's job was complete, it was time for Medical to respond to the casualties caused by the active shooter. If this were a real Mass Casualty situation, the lives of 18 Sailors would depend on Medical's fast and effective response.

"A mass casualty drill is to ensure that we, as a ship, can handle an emergency situation," said Cmdr. Nathan Brezovic, the George Washington Ship's Nurse at the time of the drill.

The drill put the Medical department's capabilities to the test to ensure they could handle an emergency situation of this caliber.

"In this environment, with the small medical group and specialists that we have aboard, a casualty of five to 10 people would overwhelm our medical capabilities," said Brezovic. "We ran 18 casualties."

The goal of Medical is to save as many Sailors as possible in a short amount of time.

"We'll set up triage and figure out how seriously they are injured and if they need to be cared for immediately or if another victim needs our attention more," said Brezovic. "The goal is to get a plan together to properly treat the most patients in the least amount of time."

Due to the severity of the wounds, most of the Sailors would need more treatment than Medical can offer aboard the FAF, but Medical has a plan for that.

"The drill was set up to be an active shooter, which gives us penetrating trauma, and we don't have surgical capabilities on the FAF, so we get our resources together to get the bleeding stopped, airway protected and get them off the scene as quickly as possible to the nearest trauma center," said Brezovic.

The drill demonstrated proper procedures for both departments in the active shooter and mass casualty drill. The active shooter was neutralized by security with the appropriate amount of force and once the scene was cleared Medical responded quickly and effectively to the 18 casualties.

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