Participants and trainers both say they couldn’t be more pleased by the two-day active shooter training held last weekend at Chadron High School for members of the Nebraska Army National Guard’s 1057th Military Police Company.
About 30 guard members took part in the training led by Scotts Bluff County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Troy Brown.
Although held at a school, the focus wasn’t on school situations. Brown says the 1960s design of the school made it a perfect teaching environment with lots of odd angles and rooms.
Deputy Brown says the training is designed to be as real as possible with trainers and trainees using both guns with blanks and special simulated guns – “simunitions.”
Brown says the simunitions and other “set-dressing” are all designed to evoke the kind of stress the 2-to-5 member training teams would face in a real shooter situation.
1st Sgt Matt Dodge is both a Scotts Bluff County deputy and a 1057th platoon sergeant. He says the high stress training is similar in ways to some of what the guard members experienced in boot camp.
Although it is a military police unit, Sgt Dodge says the 1057th isn’t authorized on its own to turnout and assist local law enforcement.
A number of local volunteers helped out with the weekend training by acting as victims or bystanders trapped in a shooter situation.