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Fort A. P. Hill police chief helped train responders at Fort Hood Date published: 11/7/2009
By RUSTY DENNEN When Gary White saw what was happening at Fort Hood Thursday afternoon, his first thought was, "I wanted to be there, straight up." White, the police chief at Fort A.P. Hill White, 48, was nearing the end of a 22-year Army career when he was stationed at Fort Hood in 1999. He retired in 2001 just after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and was hired as a police officer. He trained security personnel there until he left for Fort A.P. Hill in 2008. "A lot of those officers worked for me. We built that department from the ground up," White said of those who responded to the shootings by Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a native Virginian who had worked as a doctor at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. The rampage killed 12 soldiers and a civilian and wounded 30 others. White said security forces responded in less than three minutes. Kimberly Munley, a civilian police officer, shot Hasan before he could kill more troops gathered at the base's Soldier Readiness Center. Fort Hood has a hybrid police force, with both civilian and military police. "Military police helped us with law enforcement and, in turn, trained in law enforcement. That's all we did," said White, adding that security is a daunting job on the nation's largest military base, which covers about 320 square miles near Waco. He said the force trains for "active-shooter" scenarios of the type that unfolded on Thursday. It's all the more urgent when the shooter is a soldier--someone who has security clearance and free access to the base. "We built our own range, for pistols to long guns, to shotguns, built a driving simulator a use-of-force simulator to train in different scenarios. We did a lot of training," White said. And some of the expertise wound up here. Last year at Fort A.P. Hill, "We trained with the Caroline County Sheriff's Office on responding to an active shooter," White said. "Our hearts and prayers go out to all the first-responders. They are our brothers and sisters." Meanwhile, Army installations nationwide are reviewing security procedures, though all do periodic security exercises to deal with various threats. "We are taking a more observant stance. We got some guidance from headquarters this morning," said Maj. John Moses, at the Fredericksburg National Guard Armory. That guidance includes information from the Department of Homeland Security on how to deal with a shooting in progress. Said Moses, "This is one of those unspeakable things that can happen anywhere." Rusty Dennen: 540/374-5431
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