Simulated disasters befall USAG Bavaria; on-, off-post teams unite to face challenges

TOWER BARRACKS, Germany - Fictionalized threat reports and simulated "injects" -starting and ending with "exercise, exercise, exercise" - reached members of the U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria team, and so commenced a one-week evaluation.

USAG Bavaria conducted an installation protection exercise the week of Sept. 22 through 26 to gauge the response of garrison personnel when dealing with plausible threats to the life, health and safety of its community members and to the mission of its tenant units.

The nature of the threats varied wildly, from a simulated active shooter, a wildlife viral outbreak and even unmanned aerial systems. From the forested lakelands of Tower and Rose barracks near Grafenwöhr and Vilseck respectively, to the high, foggy hills of Hohenfels, to the montane backdrop of Sheridan Barracks and Artillery Kaserne near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, members of the garrison team, tenant units, local national first responders and more took part in the exercise.

While story injects started occurring well before, the major events started when the evaluators tested the Hohenfels community's response capabilities to an active shooter Sept. 23. Emergency personnel responded, and the team performed their due diligence in the aftermath by adjusting security measures and initiating an investigation.

The next day, the action took place in the Grafenwöhr and Vilseck communities. The exercise tested a possible African swine fever outbreak, and unmanned aerial systems. As a part of the response, Military Police Soldiers arrested the remote-controlling perpetrators and disabled the drones.

The notional intelligence gleaned from the Grafenwoehr UAS perpetrators fed into the next day's activities, when drones were spotted over the Hohenfels training area and a shelter-in-place order was issued via ALERT! messaging and giant voice declaration.

Col. Stephen A. Flanagan, USAG Bavaria commander, apportioned his time between the tactical operations center in the garrison headquarters building and the field to observe and take part in the drone action at Grafenwoehr. Flanagan emphasized multinational interoperability:

"What's important for our force protection is close cooperation with our German partners - the local Polizei outside, the Bundeswehr, etcetera - so that we are supporting, we have good communication," he said. "Interoperability and collaborative teamwork with our German partners and with NATO partners is extremely important."

"We rely heavily on our host nation partners here," said Patrick Houston Daughtry Jr., chief of police for USAG Bavaria. "German police always have primary jurisdiction on everything, and we are here to support that, to support the Polizei and their investigation's response."

For the drone incursion, the military police Soldiers responded, identified the remote operators, detained them and worked to determine whether there was a further threat, all while ensuring the safety of the community. Members of the German Polizei were there as well to take part in the exercise.

"We work on a day-to-day basis with each other," Daughtry said. "We support each other, do exercises, go through the motions, make the right notifications, so that we can protect not only the local population here in Germany but also our American population that resides at USAG Bavaria."

Col. Helge Gerken, head of the Force Protection Division at Operational Command in Berlin for the Bundeswehr, took part in the exercise as an observer.

"It is important to develop awareness-raising measures in Germany to protect critical infrastructure but also to liaise with our authorities such as the police and across state borders in order to practice and discuss responsibilities and processes and to find solutions for countering this hybrid threat," Gerken said.

Sven Buhl, the senior police superintendent at the Upper Palatinate police headquarters, also took part in the exercise as an observer.

"Sightings of drones near or above U.S. locations simply require cooperation between the police, who have jurisdiction, and the location itself," he said. "You may know your own colleagues - you know how they operate, you have the same background - and now you encounter the military or military police, who may be unknown to you."

Buhl says taking part in exercises such as the installation protection exercise can help bridge an experiential gap when working with international counterparts.

"That is why it is important to train and practice this cooperation," he said, "to know how the other person ticks, how they proceed, how they act, what principles they uphold."

Alexander Krone, head of the Federal Forestry Services, spoke about the possible outbreak of African swine fever, a disease that has as yet to reach Bavaria but cases of which have been found in other German states.

"We're currently training for a scenario that goes beyond the boundaries of the installation, and training like this is important for both sides," Krone said. "We work together to ensure that the Americans have the right connections to the Bavarian veterinary administration authorities and the districts."

"Hazards and threats do not have borders," Ben Torres, USAG Bavaria emergency manager said, echoing Krone. "They don't respect fence lines, they don't respect property lines. We're all in it together."

Torres said the key to countering these threats is cooperation.

"You have to be proactive," he said. "Build those relationships, understand each other's capacities, and build the effective communication you need. So when these hazards and threats arise, you can effectively respond."

Should community members suspect a threat is imminent, they can report through a call to the military police, the local Polizei or through iSalute (https://www.usainscom.army.mil/isalute/) or by emailing [email protected].

Community members who want to stay apprised in case a crisis occurs can sign up for ALERT! messaging (https://home.army.mil/bavaria/Alert), by tuning into AFN Bavaria at 98.5, or by keeping up with the garrison through the website (https://home.army.mil/bavaria), or through social media:

- Grafenwoehr / Vilseck: https://www.facebook.com/USAGBavaria

- Hohenfels: https://www.facebook.com/USAGBavariaHohenfels

- Garmisch-Partenkirchen: https://www.facebook.com/BMC.Garmisch