Army App That Helps Soldiers Survive Active-Shooter Situations
By Debbie Gregory.
Soldiers and civilians alike will soon have a tool to aid in their survival during an active shooter situation, thanks to a team of civilian employees from the Aviation Center of Excellence at Fort Rucker, Alabama.
Army Training and Doctrine Command and TRADOC Capability Manager-Mobile (TCM Mobile) announced the winner from a competition held to develop an app that allows for quick response. Once the app is opened, a single tap of a button will access the emergency dialer. The app then instructs users on what to do as they wait for help to arrive.
The Army says it will double as both an educational tool and a means of quickly connecting users to emergency response personnel
“If adrenaline kicks in and they forget what to do in the moment, all of that information is right there in front of them,” said Matt MacLaughlin of the TRADOC Senior Mobile Training Development center. “We’re going to try to think for you. Because there’s situations where you won’t have time to think.”
The judges evaluated the shooter app entries based on content, functionality, design and overall user experience. There was also a competition for best logo design, won by the team from Fort Gordon, Georgia.
Active shooter situations against U.S. military include the 2015 attack at the Armed Forces Career Center in Chattanooga where the shooter then attacked a Navy Reserve center, claiming five lives, a 2013 attack at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington D.C. that took the lives of 12 people, and the 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood that left 13 people dead.
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