1st SOSFS tackles active shooter training

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Michelle Vickers
  • 1st Special Operations Wing Public Affairs
HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. --  Mentors from the National Tactical Officers Association trained members of the 1st Special Operations Security Forces Squadron in a Multi-Assault Counter-Terrorism Action Capabilities course at Hurlburt Field June 4-8.

The NTOA is an organization that brings together members from various agencies to develop and disseminate training for law enforcement personnel in order to improve public safety and domestic security.

For the service members of the 1st SOSFS, the MACTAC course provides a window into an active shooter scenario. First, the members learned approaching different types of buildings and maneuvering in formations. Then, they practiced tactics for assaulting and clearing the building.

"We were taught to move down to take out the threat in that particular room and disregard the rest of the unknowns," said Staff Sgt. Jason Moxley, unit trainer for 1st SOSFS. "Basically, you run by multiple rooms that you don't know what's in there, but you know the gunshots are coming from down the hall, so that's basically where you got to go. We're assuming that extra risk to save lives."

The class progressed from doing dry runs and utilizing simulated munitions to shooting live fire by the end of the week. One portion of the class placed the students into active shooter scenarios staged within an elementary school setting.

"A lot of our training is just yelling, 'Hey, bam bam, I shot you coming around this corner,'" Moxley said. "So to go into a school and actually have simulated munitions being shot at you and you shooting and saying 'OK, well, that round missed,' it gives them more a realization of what's occurring. This is really high speed training for these guys to receive."

The terrorist attack upon Mumbai, India, in 2008 was one of the major active shooter incidents that resulted in agencies developing new tactics to respond to active shooter crises, said Moxley. In the attack, terrorists assumed the role of active shooters as a means of destruction in their assault on multiple locations. The loss of life was more severe as the active shooters knew and adapted their methods to traditional tactics used by law enforcement and other first responders.

"It's an ever-growing threat," Moxley said. "It's becoming more and more real. The scenarios are less based that we're going to have an army attacking us. It's going to be small groups of terrorists or religious fanatics that are going to take out as many small targets as they can to get the maximum media impact."

For many of the students in the course, MACTAC afforded them the valuable opportunity to work with instructors from civilian law enforcement agencies like the Los Angles Police Department's Special Weapons and Tactics unit.

"Being able to work with a major city's police department and figure out their tactics to be able to integrate that to what we do, versus just seeing the military field tactics side of the house has been extremely beneficial," said Staff Sgt. Alex Patten, patrolman from the 1st SOSFS. "The extra experience that they bring to the table being our brothers in arms as a civilian law enforcement agency has been a great advantage to us."

While it is standard practice for security forces to work in teams, active shooter emergencies call for any law enforcement that arrives at the location to act immediately even if they're the only service member on the scene. To ensure maximum preparation for an active shooter crisis on base, those who took the MACTAC course were also certified as instructors for the class.

"This is a great opportunity for us to learn these new tactics as these tactics have still not been trained throughout the United States yet so we're in the cutting edge right now with this training," Moxley said. "We'll be able to take this back to our unit and start teaching new tactics hopefully to save lives down range."