MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII -- Between featuring a plethora of aircraft, requiring a mix of first responders, and drawing tens of thousands of visitors, there are numerous moving parts when a base supports an air show. While successfully planning and hosting the event can be a challenging task, the air show directorate and first responders don’t enter the event unprepared.
Part of this preparation included the full-scale exercise Lethal Breeze 2010, which swept across Marine Corps Base Hawaii Wednesday.
The exercise, which involved air show personnel, first responders and role-played air show visitors, was designed to highlight the base’s ability to respond to incidents in anticipation of the Sept. 25-26 Kaneohe Bay Air Show.
“We’re testing our imagination and scenarios of what could go wrong so we can be prepared for it,” said Chief Warrant Officer 5 Pete O’Hare, air show director. “Playing with scenarios now, while providing security, crowd control and testing our emergency response capabilities, will help prepare us for whatever scenarios may happen later.”
The idea was to simulate these scenarios minus the large crowds, allowing the participants to become familiar with the sites and coordination between agencies, said O’Hare, of Brooklyn, N.Y. He added they’ve been communicating with air show coordinators from other bases to discuss what can go wrong and lessons learned from previous air shows.
This year’s exercise took place at several incident sites. Responders in the field performed procedures associated with a simulated mass casualty incident and an aircraft mishap. This required effective communication, command and control, victim rescue, crowd control and mass casualty measures.
“The exercise allows us to assess our control and how we deal with coordination and communication in handling different situations,” said Lt. Tim Slovak, a platoon commander with the base Provost Marshal’s Office.
In the first simulated incident, several anti-war “protestors” congregated close to a media tent during the Blue Angels portion of the air show, picketing their discontent with the current war effort.
During the demonstration, fights broke out and amid the chaos, an unidentified man opened fire from a nearby rooftop. With numerous simulated casualties on the ground, the first responders swiftly reacted to both the active shooter and mass casualty incident. Agencies included were military and government police and fire departments, and emergency medical services.
“The security of the scene is our first responsibility, so we’ve ensured we have adequate first responders to cover every event,” said Capt. Gerard Vanderwaal, PMO’s operations officer.
He said dealing with worst-case scenarios tests their response capabilities during the exercise allows them to establish defense in depth and security posts across the entire base.
“While the dynamics in a real situation are much more complicated, it’s good for the military policemen and the [Security Augmentation Force] to have training in holding their posts,” said Vanderwaal, of San Antonio.
The exercise’s final test assessed the base’s ability to respond to an aircraft mishap during the air show. In that simulated incident, one of the Blue Angels crashed into Landing Zone Boondocker on base while maneuvering in a locked, six-jet delta formation. As rescuemen with Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay’s Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting quelled the contained blaze of the downed aircraft, other first responders marked casualties and provided them aid.
“In this type of exercise, we’re developing the relationships between different agencies and exercising memorandums of understanding to develop proper responses,” said Maj. Jeff Reichman, the senior watch officer for Headquarters Battalion.
“It’s the garrison formula of training the way you fight,” said Reichman, of Keokuk, Iowa.