Military and civilian security and emergency services throughout Naval District Washington (NDW) concluded two weeks of extensive drills and crisis response training during the annual anti-terrorism and force protection exercise Solid Curtain-Citadel Shield (SC-CS) 2016, Feb. 12.

Solid Curtain is a Navy wide exercise led by U.S. Fleet Forces Command and Commander, Navy Installation Command and Citadel Shield is designed to evaluate installation-level responses to a range of force protection situations.

All installations throughout the region collaborated with their respective local law enforcement and emergency services agencies during active shooter, surveillance and mass casualty exercises.

"This exercise is a critical component of our training program," said Naval Support Activity (NSA) Annapolis Commanding Officer Capt. Logan Jones. "It allows us to validate and refine training we have conducted to date, and it allows us to integrate security operations with NCIS; police from local jurisdictions; local, city and county fire departments; and the Anne Arundel Medical Center."

Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling (JBAB) hosted a robust training schedule featuring an active shooter and hostage situation, in the 579th Medical Group Clinic.

"I was extremely pleased with the response from our JBAB law enforcement personnel during the active threat exercise held Feb. 3 on board JBAB," said JBAB Commanding Officer Capt. Frank Mays. "The actions they took to eliminate a possible active shooter at the base medical clinic provided an excellent training opportunity for a possible real-world scenario. I am equally proud of our first responders from NDW Fire and Emergency Services who were able to provide on-site emergency care to the event victim role-players. It is training events like this that allow our service members, civilians and mission partners to work in concert so they can take advantage of lessons learned and share best practices which ultimately enhances our overall readiness to better deter and defend against terrorist attacks."

Nearby at NSA South Potomac and NSA Bethesda, exercise leaders also focused on deterring falsely-credentialed intruders along installation perimeters, as well as participating in active-shooter scenarios within the bases.

To ensure safety and security during the training, role players acting as the shooters were escorted by training team personnel who oversaw and evaluated the events. SC-CS allows military and civilian responders alike to hone emergency skills as threats evolve, but in a safe environment, much like any other military drill.

Matt Brown, lead exercise planner for NDW, said SC-CS follows the classic military adage, 'train like we fight.'

"We learned a great deal about how effective our response is to numerous scenarios and also came away with some lessons learned," said Brown. "The event provided us an opportunity to train on our pre-planned responses and we were able to effectively integrate our Regional Operations Center Reserve Unit who provided invaluable support to our NDW team."

The overall exercise for NDW culminated with a large-scale active-shooter event designed to hone first responder skills and test the regions' ability to handle damages and devise protection plans for visitors, residents and staff.

"We need to continue to exercise coordination and communication with our civilian counterparts and all of our installations. There are many moving pieces including force protection, fire and emergency services and installation tenants. Achieving unity of effort among all of the entities can always be improved upon," said Brown. "This event was a successful one from the perspective of learning where we need to focus our training efforts as we move forward.

Brown emphasized the importance of the exercise saying that conducting the annual exercise ensures the region maintains a high state of readiness to ensure the safety and security of our Navy community.

A major part of SC-CS each year is communication and installations' ability get alerts to the workforce. Personnel within the National Capital Region are encouraged to sign up for the AtHoc alert network and follow the "If you see something, say something" rule if witnessing any suspicious activity.

For more news and images of SC-CS 2016 and to stay up to date with events in NDW, visit www.facebook.com/NavDistWash.

For more news from Naval District Washington, visit www.navy.mil/.

Michelle Gordon, JBAB Public Affairs, contributed to this article.