Marines

Destructive weather? Active shooter? Marine Corps Mass Notification System offers quick warning

7 Aug 2014 | Cpl. Jackeline M. Perez Rivera Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune


In case of installation-wide emergencies, members of the Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune community can opt to be notified through the Marine Corps Mass Notification System.

The system uses texts, phone calls, emails and announcements from speakers throughout the installation to notify personnel and residents of urgent threats, including destructive weather and active shooters. 

"It’s a life safety system," said Paul Stenger, the director of plans with Marine Corps Installations-East Operations. "This is for critical time-sensitive information that has to be passed. It allows us to let folks know quickly that there is something happening on this base that they need to react to."

Emergencies happen quickly. According to the FBI, the average active-shooter incident lasts 12 minutes, and 37 percent last less than 5 minutes, while the average warning for a tornado arrives 13 minutes prior, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The system protects life by reporting the existence of an emergency situation and providing instructions on the necessary and appropriate actions to be taken, said Stenger, a native of College Park, Maryland.

"It’s important to get the message out quickly," said Eric Carlson, the installation emergency manager.

If people are notified and can take appropriate actions, their chance of survival rises, said Carlson, a native of Virginia, Minnesota.

There are a wide variety of methods to notify the approximately 60,000 people who work and live aboard the base.

Personnel can hear the notification over Giant Voice, a speaker system for outdoor areas throughout the installation, or Little Voice, a speaker system for indoor areas. Registered Marine Corps Mass Notification System users can receive alerts via text message, email or phone call.

Navy Marine Corps Intranet users are automatically registered for the system, however, it’s important to update contact information by clicking on the purple globe icon in the right corner of the taskbar on an NMCI computer, said Tabatha Hart, the Web Emergency Operations Center administrator with MCI-East and a native of Bogalusa, Louisiana.

Marine Corps Worldwide system users and other common access card holders can self-register and update information, including a dependent phone number, at https://alerts1.mcdsus.mcds.usmc.mil/SelfService/Entry.aspx?pid=2060346.