It's only an exercise

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. R. J. Levin
  • 572nd Global Mobility Readiness Squadron commander
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  How many times have we all heard or even said, "It's only an exercise?" This sentiment is perhaps more true when it comes to how we prepare our personal affairs than how we prepare to accomplish the mission. But I think we short change ourselves with this view, and in a big way directly impact our ability to accomplish the mission successfully.

Several months ago, during an exercise designed to test the 60th Air Mobility Wing's emergency response capability, I found myself at the entry control point to Bldg. 381 where a young airman first class had been appointed door guard. This young man was working with another individual to ensure all the doors to the building were not only locked, but displayed the appropriate Force Protection Condition signs. The time was about mid-day, and many people had just been released from their shelter in place.

That particular portion of the exercise took about two hours, and many people were looking to get to lunch, or back to other parts of the base.

As the Airman attempted to keep individuals either in or out of the building, according to FPCON DELTA procedures, we began to hear many excuses for why people should be allowed to leave (never mind they had no idea why the base was in FPCON DELTA and may have been exposing themselves to unnecessary danger.) "I need to get to lunch," "I need to get to the hospital, that is where I need to be for this exercise," or "I need to get my son to school." It is the last excuse that got me thinking.

How many of us were on active duty on Sept. 11, 2001? How many of us remember our bases going into lock down for several hours, if not for the majority of that day? My wife and I were both on active duty and our son was at the Child Development Center on base. But many of our friends had kids who went to school in town, had spouses who worked in town but lived on base, and so on. How many of us had ever thought about what would happen if we could not get off base to get our kids, or even get home. Since Sept. 11, we should all be thinking about that.

Our enemies are not waiting for a convenient time to strike. And being stationed at Travis, we have an additional issue to contend with, earthquakes. Without notice we could be cut off from our families very quickly. How many of us have talked with friends or family in the local area to help us out if we need them? To whom have we given legal authority to pick up our kids from school? Does the school know who those people are? Do our kids know who they are, and that from time to time it may be necessary for someone other than mom and dad to get them from school? Have you ever tested or exercised what you have put in place?

The time to discover you are not prepared for a base lockdown is not during the next enemy attack or earthquake. The next time Team Travis has an exercise, we all need to work with our kids, friends and family and exercise our own support system so that we can all focus on accomplishing our mission, knowing our kids and families are in good hands.