Identify a step to take when performing the alley dock exercise.

Using your side view mirrors is a crucial step when performing the alley dock exercise as it significantly enhances your awareness of your vehicle's positioning relative to the surrounding environment. This maneuver requires precision and control, and the side view mirrors provide vital visual information that helps the driver judge distances and angles accurately. By effectively utilizing the side view mirrors, an operator can maintain a better trajectory, ensuring safe and efficient maneuvering into narrow spaces, which is especially important in challenging scenarios like emergency response situations typically encountered in Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting operations.

The other options, while they may seem relevant in other contexts, do not specifically facilitate the successful completion of the alley dock exercise. Activating headlights may improve visibility but doesn’t directly aid in the spatial awareness needed for maneuvering. Closing windows is not necessary for the alley dock as it does not contribute to the process. Reversing at high speed is counterproductive and increases the risk of loss of control, making it fundamentally unsafe for this type of precise operation.