Fort Liberty, first responders team up to train for active shooter scenario

Military leaders at Fort Liberty spent most of Wednesday responding to a mock emergency on post.

The drill included an active emergency operations center that brought all emergency responders on post together.

WRAL News was there as soldiers responded to an active shooter drill with hostages taken.

Within hours, the emergency operations center at Fort Liberty was up and running.

A small army of first responders gathered at Fort Liberty to see how they would react to an active shooter on post.

"We hear some shooting and then we came back running," Private First Class Jose Sanchez said. "We came back to the car and we see the car was completely destroyed."

Sanchez and these other soldiers are role players in today's exercise. They weren't here when two military aircraft collided at Green Ramp, killing 24 service members and injuring more than 100. Just like back then, the emergency operations center went into action.

This is an active shooter drill. Over the years, they've been conducted on post countless times.

While these soldiers may not have been here when tragedy struck on post in the past, they understand the importance of today's training.

PFC Brandon Benedict, 82nd Airborne Division Soldier, spoke to that.

"So, it's important that. people are versed in what to do and how to react," Benedict said. "Because you never know. Everyone goes to work like it's a regular day, but it might just not be."

But disasters don't have to happen on post. When airplanes struck the twin towers in New York, the post was put on lockdown. When hurricanes Matthew and Floyd flooded the surrounding community, soldiers responded to help their neighbors. That's what the exercise is all about.

In addition to being able to fight around the world, Fort Liberty soldiers are also trained to respond to local emergencies like inclement weather, power outages, cyberattacks and mass casualty events.

"With the exercise we try to go a little on the large side so it's better to prepare for the worst," said Fort Liberty Emergency Manager Adam Buehler. "When they develop the exercise they go hard. They make sure that we are prepared for whatever disaster comes before us."

Solders at Fort Liberty train to respond anywhere in the world when there's a crisis. They have to be ready to go within 18 hours. Wednesday's crisis was on post. And it's training they hope they never ever have to use.