ALTUS AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. — The 97th Air Mobility Wing conducted an active shooter exercise Wednesday, June 20, 2012. All base gates were closed for 15-20 minutes, with some base personnel, residents, and visitors hearing exercise alerts and alert radio messages. “Since the incident at Fort Hood, Texas, exercises like this are critical to evaluating Department of Defense response actions to an active shooter incident,” said Capt. Brandon Gorab, 97th AMW chief of wing inspections. “Base personnel have been and will continue to be intently focused on improving response plans for the safety of everyone on the installation.” The exercise also integrated off-base agencies to better the preparedness of the community, including the Altus Fire/Rescue Department, Altus Police Department and Jackson County Memorial Hospital. According to Bonnie McAskill, Director of Public Relations at JCMH, “It is extremely important for our community that we remain ready and alert for any crisis. Our relationship with Altus Air Force Base is strong and these exercises help us practice and improve the communication between our two organizations.” “The exercise also allowed us to examine the management of our resources as we continued hospital operations. In any disaster or crisis, caring for all patients, those who arrived from the event and those already in our care, remain our number one priority.” One AAFB Airmen is shown here at Jackson County Memorial Hospital during the exercise as doctors and other health officials at the facility participate.