HomeNewsArticle Display

Planners, the brains behind base exercises

  • Published
  • By Mike W. Ray
  • Staff Writer
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  Military and civilian personnel alike at Tinker Air Force Base are trained every year in how to respond to emergencies of all types, from natural disasters to man-made mayhem.

At the direction of the Air Force, a tornado preparedness exercise is conducted at Tinker every year. "We try to conduct it in the spring, ahead of the major threat time frame," Exercise Evaluator Paul Logan said. This year's annual severe weather exercise took place Feb. 15.

Air Force Materiel Command requires the tornado drills because Oklahoma lies in the path of what is commonly referred to as "tornado alley"; twisters are a perennial certainty in the Sooner State.

An F5 tornado rotating in excess of 300 mph -- the highest speed every recorded in a twister -- raked Tinker, Midwest City, Del City, Moore, Bridge Creek and Oklahoma City on May 3, 1999. Four years later, another tornado damaged the General Motors paint facility (what is now Tinker AFB Bldg. 9201), danced across a Tinker aircraft parking ramp and over Marauder Gate.

For similar reasons, Mr. Logan said, the Air Force mandates hurricane drills at Eglin AFB in Florida, earthquake drills at Edward AFB in California, "and probably blizzard drills at Minot AFB" in North Dakota.

At the center of the Tinker training are Senior Exercise Evaluator Jonny Conover and Mr. Logan, both of the 72nd Air Base Wing Installation Exercise Program Office, in Bldg. 1.

Mr. Conover and Mr. Logan meet every Thursday afternoon with an exercise evaluation team to discuss scenarios in which Tinker personnel need preparedness training. The exercise evaluation team is comprised of "experts from all functional areas" on base and numbers 170-plus, Mr. Conover said. Members include representatives of Fire and Emergency Services, the 72nd Medical Group, the 72nd Security Forces Squadron, various health and environmental units, etc., Mr. Logan said.

The conditions established for each exercise vary widely, Mr. Logan indicated. "I've got a vivid imagination," he said.

Besides the tornado drills, emergency preparedness training has included an "active shooter" exercise which has been conducted three times, most recently in Bldg. 285.

Another annual exercise is containment of and response to a hazardous material spill, said Mr. Logan, who has been an exercise evaluator for the past 12 years. Other exercises, he said, have focused on containment plans for infectious diseases such as pneumonic plague and avian (bird) flu, as well as counter radiological warfare and wargames.

Phase 1 of the wargames is performed on base but Phase 2 is conducted at the Glenwood Training Annex, a 280-acre reservation about a mile east of Tinker Gate (Air Depot Boulevard) on the north side of Southeast 29th Street.

The mile-long, half-mile-wide site is managed by the 3rd Combat Communications Group, said Mr. Logan, who retired from the Air Force after 23 years of active duty. The 3rd CCG conducts multiple training events and exercises at Glenwood throughout the year, while IEPO typically uses Glenwood a few times a year, he said.

Because of weather conditions Feb.15, the shelter-in-place "tornado drill" will be held at a later date.