Skip to main content

Pentagon simulation crash exercise scheduled for Thursday

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon Force Protection Agency will conduct a simulated helicopter crash and mass casualty exercise at the Pentagon Mall Terrace and Heliport Thursday.

The mass casualty exercise will allow all emergency response partners to validate their response capabilities and involves a helicopter crash and subsequent fire at the Pentagon

The exercise involves first responders from the Arlington County Fire & Rescue, Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall Fire Station 161 and Crash Team, DiLorenzo Tricare Health Clinic and the American Red Cross.

The exercise scenario  and may be visible from the Virginia State Highway Routes 27 and 110. Commuters are warned they may see police and emergency response activity in and around the Pentagon Mall Terrace and Heliport during the exercise.

The exercise will be held on the the north side of the Pentagon from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and will not disrupt normal employee or visitor access to the Pentagon.

The Pentagon Force Protection Agency is a civilian agency within the Department of Defense charged with protecting and safeguarding the occupants, visitors and infrastructure of the Pentagon, Navy Annex and other Pentagon facilities.

Breaking the silence around suicide: A Virginia mother shares thoughts on prevention

September is Suicide Prevention Month, and Betsy Stephenson, an Alexandria, Virginia, resident and a mother who lost her son to suicide, wants people to talk about it. "By not talking about suicide, we are not going to make it go away. In fact, I think that we could inadvertently give it a little more power than it deserves," she told WTOP. One of the things that Stephenson wants families to know is that people who are struggling can appear to be doing well. "You can be very high-functioning as a depressed person or an anxious person," she said. "You can be connected socially. You can be doing well at school or work. You can be making plans, smiling, laughing, engaged, but still be struggling deeply, you know, cosmically, inside."
Read Next Story