(Tribune News Service) — Wright-Patterson Air Force Base will test personnel response in a base-wide active-shooter training exercise Wednesday, the first of two such exercises planned for this year.

The exercise will start on the base’s Area B. Base employees and some people off base may hear lockdown notifications via the base’s “giant voice” public address system.

The base will also spread the word of lockdowns via phone and other electronic modes.

Once the location of the exercise’s “active shooter” is identified, the lockdown will be lifted in all other areas.

The base expects the training to end no later than 3 p.m.

“Readiness translates to higher mission effectiveness and a safer workplace,” Wendy Larson, 88th Air Base Wing inspector general, said in a release on the base web site. “No one wants to experience an active shooter, workplace violence or a widespread natural disaster. But I’d rather experience any of them with some muscle memory of what I should do.”

“Often the focus is on the major muscle movements, such as first responders and command and control, but another capability to test is how building occupants respond to an active shooter,” Larson added. “Do they know when to hide or when to run? Do they know the best exit? How do supervisors account for their personnel after the fact?”

Base leaders say they reformed the active-shooter training process after a chaotic “active shooter” false alarm at Wright-Patterson in 2018.

In September 2021, base security forces were also deployed when employees believed they heard a gunshot at or near the National Air and Space Intelligence Center. No one was found, hurt or arrested in that incident.

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