NORFOLK, Va. — Keeping their 346,000 fellow sailors safe and protecting vital national assets are the goals of an annual Navy force protection and anti-terrorism exercise wrapping up this week.
Citadel Shield-Solid Curtain is an annual two-part force protection exercise to demonstrate the Navy's commitment to protecting life, equipment and facilities.
Week one's Citadel Shield focuses on installation-level training, as was demonstrated last week as Naval Station Norfolk security team members responded to a fictitious active shooter threat.
The Solid Curtain portion, happening now during the second week, is a national-level exercise centered on command, control, and communications between all echelons Navy-wide.
Personnel at the Navy Region Mid Atlantic "ROC" or regional operations center are responsible for supervising drill participants at 14 naval installations from North Carolina to Maine and as far west as Illinois and Wisconsin.
The scenario involved multiple make-believe domestic and international terrorist attacks at various Navy installations in the continental U.S.
"Our mission is to protect the American people in this country from whatever threat we face," said Navy Region Mid Atlantic Commander, Rear Admiral Christopher "Scotty" Gray on Thursday.
When asked how it's going, he told 13News Now, "So far, so good."
Gray continued: "You always learn lessons. That's why you do it. We always find some weaknesses. We'll do an after-action report in order to close those weaknesses to ensure that when we do it for real. we'll be as good as we can."
The nation as a whole and the Hampton Roads region have experienced several real-world base security tragedies in recent years.
In 2019, a sailor died when a gate runner crashed into his patrol car at Fort Story.
In 2017, a sailor was fatally shot after crashing his vehicle through the back gate at Oceana.
And in 2014, a sailor was killed during a shootout, after a truck driver got through Gate 5 at Naval Station Norfolk and made it to USS Mahan at Pier One.