A two-day full-scale antiterrorism exercise took place at White Sands Missile Range Oct. 17 and 18. The exercise tested WSMR’s ability to respond to real-world situations and provided essential training to several different facets of WSMR’s emergency response team.
“Exercises like these show the WSMR community that we continue to prepare for real-world emergencies,” said WSMR Department of Plans, Training, and Mobilization Division Chief Dennis Stockwell. “The exercise helped us identify areas we need to improve on.”
The exercise began Oct. 17 with a “suspicious package” that was found in the mailroom. The WSMR Fire Department responded to the scene and put their Hazardous Material training to use during the exercise. The package in question was tested and contained by two firefighters in full HAZ-MAT suits. The suspicious package exercise took most of the morning and could not have happened without the cooperation of the garrison community, Stockwell said.