By Melissa Buckley, Fort Leonard Wood Public Affairs Office
FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. (May 7, 2026) – To test Fort Leonard Wood’s ability to respond to disasters or crisis situations, emergency managers are planning to hold an installation-wide exercise May 18-22, 2026.
“Full scale exercises enable the installation’s first responders and emergency operations staff to test their coordination, cooperation, and communication and determine gaps in response and identify additional required resources or training needs,” said Matthew Mertz, the installation’s emergency manager.
Although details regarding the simulated event are being withheld, exercise organizers have confirmed the involvement of various installation and local community-based emergency response organizations.
“The exercise will include all first responder capabilities, Emergency Operations Center activities, the General Leonard Wood Community Hospital’s care abilities and also incorporates additional support agencies in support of first responders,” Mertz said. “Depending on the availability of off-post resources due to real world emergencies, our exercises include support from off post often including but not limited to emergency medical services, local fire departments, and coordination with local law enforcement.”
He said all members of the Fort Leonard Wood community will have a role to play in the upcoming exercise.Involvement levels are tiered based on mission requirements – spanning from full-scale operational response to routine personnel accountability reporting.
“When the exercise begins all community members are required to take appropriate actions in accordance with direction from the Installation Operations Center, Fort Leonard Wood Public Affairs Office, chain of command or first responders,” Mertz said.
Installation emergency managers choose the hazardous scenario based on the top three threats to the Fort Leonard Wood community.
“Weather, specifically tornados, is the most likely and most dangerous threat the installation and has been the theme for previous scenarios,” Mertz said.
Evaluators from Installation Management Command will participate this year by evaluating Fort Leonard Wood’s ability to respond to an incident, contain the incident and speed recovery toward normal operations.
“The evaluators assist Fort Leonard Wood first responders and Emergency Operations Center staff by identifying gaps in our procedures and identifying best practices to share with other installations,” Mertz said.
Community members are advised to plan for potential disruptions to movement and routine activities throughout the installation.
“Although often times seen as an inconvenience, this disruption is essential for the installation emergency management team to train, prepare and respond to potential incidents on the installation in order to save lives and continue the Fort Leonard Wood mission to train our Army’s future Soldiers and our sister services of sailors, Marines and airmen,” Mertz said.
Fort Leonard Wood conducts a minimum of one full-scale exercise annually and multiple functional exercises, seminars and individual Crisis Action Team training, he added.
In preparation for the upcoming exercise, Common Access Card holders, their family members, long-term contractors, private organizations and Fort Leonard Wood tenants can sign up to receive notifications on their phones via the ALERT! Mass Warning Notification System. Instructions for setting up ALERT! notifications are on the Weather and Hazardous Conditions page.
Director of Fort Leonard Wood Public Affairs, Tiffany Wood, said the installation uses multiple communication platforms, in addition to the mass warning notification system, to reach the public.
“During emergency and crisis situations, the Fort Leonard Wood Public Affairs Office provides official communication on behalf of the installation and its leadership – providing clear, accurate and timely information to our internal and external audiences,” Wood said. “PAO uses several communication platforms to disseminate official information, such as the Fort Leonard Wood Facebook page and website, local and regional news sources, and public outreach.
Other public notification tools include Fort Leonard Wood’s giant voice speakers.
