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***image1***Everything was going according to plan until somebody found a suspicious package at General Support Center-Europe almost two hours into the 415th Base Support Battalion’s “Eagle Eye” exercise held Oct. 21 at Kleber Kaserne and GSC-E.
***image2***“It was a smooth transition from ‘play’ to ‘real.’ We let the scenario at Kleber continue to roll and mature, and we got all the exercise play out of GSC-E while we dealt with the real-world incident there,” said Henry K. Kaaihue, the 415th BSB’s anti-terrorism and force protection officer. “Once we solved the real-world incident, we went back to the exercise at GSC-E.”
Mr. Kaaihue said that this showed the KMC trains the way they fight as all the emergency response components from the Air Force, Army and the City of Kaiserslautern were already there deep into the scenario when the suspicious package was found.
The 435th Air Base Wing supported “Eagle Eye” as they would during a real-world incident. Air Force responders are the KMC Fire Emergency Services, Security Police, Disaster Control Group and the Explosive Ordnance Disposal.
It was EOD who determined that the suspicious package was not a bomb, clearing the way for the exercise to continue.
***image3***“We train the way we fight,” said Lt. Col. James C. Reavis, 435th ABW inspections and readiness chief. “Exercises give us the opportunity to validate our plans and training as well as improving our procedures.”
The exercise scenario started out about a week prior to “Eagle Eye” with intelligence reports stating that extremists were increasing anti-U.S. demonstrations within the KMC.
Right out of the headlines, the scenario called for a group of these extremists to take it a step further by trying to enter military installations with a Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device.
“When terrorists hit, we always have to prepare for a secondary device like what happened during the Sept. 11 attacks,” said Mr. Kaaihue, who developed the exercise scenario. “That’s why our scenario was a series of multiple attacks.”
***image4***The first exercise attack was Kleber’s Gate 3 with a VBIED conventional explosion in the early morning hours.
As the exercise matured, Kleber’s guard force secured the area and made an assessment while the combat life-savers from the Kleber Clinic provided victims with emergency medical treatment. They were assisted from the KMC Fire Services, which also put out the fire and isolated the site.
In less than an hour, some members of the Kleber’s response team had to quickly respond to the attack on GSE-C, which this time, was a chemical explosion.
“The purpose was to test our readiness and our response to a weapons of mass destruction incident and scenario,” said Mr. Kaaihue. “And, the purpose of our response is to save lives and maintain security.”
