A four-hour full-scale force protection exercise at Marine Corps Support Facility Blount Island in Florida tested how the facility and local and state emergency agencies coordinate response to a complex security incident.
Exercise Urgent Response simulated an active attack in an occupied office building, requiring service members, civilian employees and contractors to make immediate decisions to run, hide or fight. The exercise involved Marine Corps police, Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department, Florida Division of Emergency Management, Naval Criminal Investigative Service and federal investigators.
The scenario tested how participants share information, treat mass casualties, respond to explosive hazards and preserve the installation's mission. Participants tracked the evolving emergency in the facility's operations center while responders moved through stairwells, hallways, offices and cubicles, coordinating with law enforcement and then fire rescue teams.
The scenario expanded to include a simulated explosive threat near the shoreline, which the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office hazardous devices unit assessed and rendered safe. Inside the operations center, the Florida Division of Emergency Management supported state-level situational awareness and resource coordination.
"By the time we arrived, the Marine Corps police department was already in place, already taking lifesaving steps and giving trauma care, so we could get in with medical treatment and transport," said Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department Capt. Shawn Hall.
The exercise validated installation defense plans and mutual aid agreements with local, state and federal partners, according to Marine Corps Lt. Col. Beau Pillot, Blount Island Command operations director.