An Cosantóir

www.military.ie the defence forces magazine | 15 Inside the building, check-in gates were busy with queues of travellers when the sound of gunfire and screaming erupted outside. As the panicked survivors of the initial attack rushed into the departures hall followed by the gunmen, terror spread throughout the crowd inside the building. People dived on the floor for cover, while the terrorists quickly took control of the area, grabbing individuals to use as hostages. As some people struggled with the terrorists the casualty list grew as the attack- ers responded with fatal aggression. The terrorist group, with their hostages in tow, then left the departures hall and made their way to the upper levels of the terminal. A few minutes passed in the now quiet departures hall; no movement, no sounds, apart from sounds of people crying quietly to themselves. Then the first brave souls began to make their es- cape through the closest exit. Once the first few had made it out, the rest began to follow, with some of the injured being helped to the exits. The survivors left behind a nightmare scene, with blood-stained floors and lifeless bodies lying surrounded by a sea of abandoned luggage. The timeline was then moved forward one hour to simulate the required response and travel time of the ERU intervention team from Dublin and to allow the time other responders would need to carry out their initial tasks: airport police would immediately close off the airport, gardaí would arrive and set up a control room, the GS RSU would respond, as would the Defence Forces. During the time shift and the support elements' set-up, evalu- ators had the chance to monitor signal traffic through the control room and assess the players' response to the situation, which should include certain objectives, such as stopping the lifts and escalators to reduce the attackers' freedom of movement inside the building. The DF support element consisted of an infantry platoon from 12 Inf Bn and an EOD team. The platoon's main effort would be to set up an outer cordon around the airport and operate check- points to monitor vehicle movements, while also looking for any other threats. Meanwhile, the EOD team carried out a check of the vehicles left outside the departure hall and were also on standby to deal with any other explosive devices. Part two of the scenario was conducted on the runway, with the arrival of the ERU team in two helicopters. The first to arrive was the Garda Air Support Unit (GASU) heli carrying GS marks- men, who took up elevated positions overlooking the terminal. The second was an Air Corps AW139 carrying the ERU intervention team, who quickly made their way to the GS control room. The final part of the scenario pro- gressed the incident to a point where the terrorist had taken refuge in an upper room in the main building. Outside this room the ERU lined the hallway behind a ballistic shield, while the GS negotiator was trying to calm the situation and build a rapport with the terrorists by keeping them talking and asking general questions. The terrorists responded by taunting the negotiator and demanding the release of an incarcerated accomplice. When the gunmen paraded a hostage in front of the ERU team and threat- ened to kill him, it became clear that the standoff was not going to be resolved through negotiation, and with no other option in the deteriorating situation the ERU were forced to take action and open fire. After the firing began the ERU team quickly took out the terrorists and freed the hostages. The final assault marked the end of a very successful exercise, which was challenging for all parties and provided vital informa- tion about areas requiring improvement. The simulated incident had involved nearly 130 personnel and was seen as an important step to improving the co-operation between the different security agencies and increase operational readiness for such an event. Exercises such as this also build confidence in our emergency response to such events. Future exercises, co-ordinated across multiple services, will further the participants' skills and improve the interoperability of all emergency services in dealing with such events in a professional manner, and in doing so will help to give the public peace of mind.

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