A team of civilian employees from the Aviation Center of Excellence at Fort Rucker, Alabama, have developed a phone app that will help soldiers and civilians survive an active-shooter response situation.
The Army claims it will double as both an educational tool and a means of quickly connecting users to emergency response personnel.
The app was designed to be as user-friendly: Once 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.
“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. “It should help everybody respond to that situation in the fastest manner possible.”
The active shooter response app competition was part of a broader effort by the Army to modernize the way it disseminates information. That effort is being lead by TRADOC Capability Manager — Mobile, or TCM Mobile, which, according to the Army, has developed 80 different apps, including ones for sexual harassment prevention, combat training, and suicide prevention. All of the apps are available at the Army’s mobile app store, the TRADOC Application Gateway.
