Dale County team uses obstacle course in crisis training

The mine field which Dale County Special Response Team officers crossed over using a steel pole on Monday was different from the door they’d barricaded in Ozark Villas to apprehend a suspect.

And the mine field didn’t have any bearing on what the officers saw during a Dale County Jail riot two years ago.

The mine field was part of a simulation exercise, but the obstacle prepared the Special Response Team officers for the other two scenarios experienced in the county over the last two years. The team went through their annual training at a Fort Rucker course on Monday to refresh veteran officers and to teach new ones how to prepare for many life-or-death situations that could be faced in the line of duty. SRT Commander Harvey Mathis said the training was a leadership course that built on relationship.

Each of nine obstacles required teamwork.

“It’s a leadership response course so none of the obstacles can be done by yourself. You need your team,” Mathis said.

The training was not timed, which gave officers time to concentrate — and joke — while figuring out each step to completing the course.

“You’ll hear a lot of joking, but you’ll see this is about working together and about building trust. They are a lot of scenarios where you gotta know who has your back,” Daleville Police Sgt. Allen Medley said.

Other scenarios on the course included crossing rivers with ammunition by only using pieces of wood as a ladder, and using rope to pull a barrel over a steep wall. If officers fell during the simulation, they were declared dead or injured and had to start over, which officers said emphasized the will to depend on each other the first time around.

“In real life, you go in every situation expecting the worst,” said George Lambert, an SRT paramedic and reserve Daleville officer. “We serve as a confidence booster, because you know your team needs to depend on you to do everything you can to make sure they’re taken care of.”