Fun & Games at CFB Esquimalt

[navymich]

From yesterday's LOOKOUT Newspaper --- Security exercise after Labour Day

Whatever you do, make sure you have your DND identification at the ready after Labour Day weekend.

For three days, starting Sept. 6, a base-wide security exercise called Quick Response will take place.

“While security measures will be enhanced at CFB Esquimalt entrances during the exercise, these measures will be relaxed to expedite entry from 5:45 to 8 a.m. each day in order to minimize impact on local civilian vehicle traffic; it should be noted that concrete barriers may be in place at gates to help control traffic,” says Cdr Paul MacNeill, exercise coordinator.

Dockyard and Naden can expect these same security measures, and Colwood, Rocky Point and 443 MH Squadron will have similar restrictions.

The exercise will practise the formation’s security and emergency response capabilities through a scripted, fictional terrorist attack.

“It will develop from a possible, to a probable, to an actual terrorist event,” says Cdr MacNeill. “It will assist the leadership at all levels and base security forces to work their way through the levels of threat response.”

When intelligence reports pinpoint CFB Esquimalt as a possible terrorist target, the force protection state will elevate from white to yellow. This will mean 100 per cent ID checks and random vehicle searches.

“People will be able to use the dockyard gate, but to avoid possible delays, the Canteen Rd. gate will remain available for deliveries, construction contractors and priority traffic such as dockyard residents and distinguished visitors,” says Cdr MacNeill. BC Transit will adjust its route to avoid the congestion by stopping at Canteen Rd.

The Base Auxiliary Security Force will be called in and given a day’s training before rotating into Port Security Section patrols.

HMC Ships Winnipeg, Algonquin and Vancouver will post armed, upper-deck sentries, while various ships will turn over their rigid hulled inflatable boats and boats’ crews to Port Security to help with waterside protection.

Members from the local army militia have volunteered to act as suspicious persons on land, and HMCS Malahat and the Victoria Police will play the opposing force on the water.

“People should start to notice suspicious activities once the exercise starts and report it as they normally would. Opposing force activities will start off as unobtrusive, and as time goes on will become more frequent and aggressive,” says Cdr MacNeill. He won’t specify what the terrorist plan is in order to keep the element of surprise

 

[therev]

I was wondering if a mock exercise like this was coming.  The security as been a little more vigorous compared to the beginning of July.  Glad that I will be away. 

 

[geo]

Doh...... and they wanted it to be a surprise!

 

[navymich]

Doh...... and they wanted it to be a surprise!

IIRC it is a yearly (at least) event, and they usually let it be known so people can plan around it.  However, that being said, there are also surprise ones out there too.  8)

 

[Rhibwolf]

its been posted on those radar gun/info signs for weeks.  I see it every morning as i ride by on the bicycle - your speed is 34, FP Exercise 6-8 Sept. (or words to that extent)

 

[rmacqueen]

Always hated those things because they would lock up the back gate to Naden and I would have to walk around, boy am I lazy

 

[IN HOC SIGNO]

"Members from the local army militia have volunteered to act as suspicious persons on land..."

Act??? ;D

 

[Danjanou]

"Members from the local army militia have volunteered to act as suspicious persons on land..."

Them navy types never learn.

Did that one year for a BDF ex at CFS St John's and they never invited us back.....and even after we returned all their weapons, vehicles and personnel and drew maps where the exercise C4 was hidden ;D

 

[rmacqueen]

I see they are including 443.  I would love to see how they secure Pat Bay because that is a pretty open area

 

[aesop081]

I see they are including 443.  I would love to see how they secure Pat Bay because that is a pretty open area

Its the victoria airport, security should already be on people's minds there as well.......i cant see securing 443 being a problem

 

[rmacqueen]

Its the victoria airport, security should already be on people's minds there as well.......i cant see securing 443 being a problem

The entrance to the hangers is from a civilian road though and the hangers are actually on the perimeter of the airport with access to SOR, etc from outside.  There are also a couple of private airline companies right next door that share the same access

 

[navymich]

I was at 443 a couple of months ago, and I'm sure that there is a high fence all around now.  The private companies are down the same road, but they are before the fence for 443.  The fence was open across the roadway, and I can't remember if there was a gate that was able to be closed across or not.

 

[aesop081]

The entrance to the hangers is from a civilian road though and the hangers are actually on the perimeter of the airport with access to SOR, etc from outside.  There are also a couple of private airline companies right next door that share the same access

None of this makes it a perticular security challenge........i dont see your point !  We share the airfield here with a civilian airport, so do alot of other bases ( Winnipeg, bagottville.....), no serious security issues there as both civilian and military facilities have a vested interest in security

 

[navymich]

...as both civilian and military facilities have a vested interest in security

Ditto for Esquimalt Harbour, what with CFSA located there.  The majority of them are very easy going on the fact (even though they really don't have a choice) of checking in and out with QHM Ops.  It's for the benefit of everyone.

 

[Rhibwolf]

I was at 443 a couple of months ago, and I'm sure that there is a high fence all around now.  The private companies are down the same road, but they are before the fence for 443.  The fence was open across the roadway, and I can't remember if there was a gate that was able to be closed across or not.

I drove into 443 lines last week at about 1030. No gate, and I did a u turn in their parking lot just next to the bldg.

 

[navymich]

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/capital_van_isl/story.html?id=0a52dab2-5a3c-4de7-b720-a55fd3ce76fe

‘Enemy forces’ set to attack in CFB Esquimalt exercise

Base personnel, police, army reservists to test preparedness

BY ROB SHAW Times Colonist staff   

When enemy forces attacked CFB Esquimalt last year, they blew up above-ground fuel tanks in Colwood, sending municipal and military firefighters scrambling into action.   

This time, base officials aren’t sure what will happen. When your annual training exercise simulates how much damage ne’er-do-wells could cause, and how to stop them, it’s hard to predict the outcome.   

“We have simulated bad guys, and the test is to see how we respond,” said Capt. Darin Guenette. “An opposing force is trying to get in at different points to see how much damage, in theory, someone with bad intent could do.”   

The training exercise, called Quick Response, runs today until Friday. It involves all of the more than 6,000 military and civilian workers at the base.   

Victoria police and local army reservists will play the bad guys, known as the red cell, and will attack by water and land.    Base officers will play the blue force and engage the enemy with rifles filled with blank rounds, if necessary, to simulate force.    The exercise isn’t designed to feign an all-out assault on the base, so local residents won’t see armed mercenaries storming the gates. Think smallerscale individual assaults, said Guenette.   

“Maybe it is a single person in plainclothes who has got a way they think they can make a DND defence [ID] card, and they get in with a tube of toothpaste that may be explosive,” Guenette said. “They might have things that could do damage, whether it is explosive devices or hand-held weapons.”   

For local residents, the most visible aspect of the training exercise will likely be noise, longer lineups at the base gates, and more armed guards searching more people, Guenette said.    There could also be barricades and temporary access points farther away from the base.   

CFB Esquimalt encompasses land at Pat Bay, Rocky Point and Colwood. The simulation will run only on base land.   

Personnel take it very seriously, said Cmdr. Paul MacNeill, who is co-ordinating the exercise and has planned the attacks.    “It’s their chance to exercise those things they hope they never have to practice for real,” he said. The base will go from a “state white” threat alert, its lowest level, to state yellow and finally to state red. In real life, the base has never been put on state red, MacNeill said.   

Any extra restrictions will be relaxed from 5:45 a.m. to 8 a.m. to prevent congestion during the morning commute.

 

[rmacqueen]

Good thing they are laying off first thing in the morning, wouldn't want to make that traffic any worse than it already is

 

[navymich]

Ugh, the barricades are nasty.  They are the big cement ones, put out in a nice pattern of course so you can't drive straight through a gate.  Could be fun in the morning for sure if they kept things at the exercise level...LOL.

 

[Cayuga]

Over at workpoint they close all but one of the gates. However it is on the opposite side of the base from where I am coming from and where I need to go... so it adds another 50% to my walk in the mornings... as I walk all the way round and back to the gate I usually enter through. ah... fun and games...