Devil Raiders train on base defense

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Robert Hicks
  • 621st Contingency Response Wing Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Defending an airfield and its assets is no easy feat, but it's even harder in a foreign location with unfamiliar terrain and less than 150 Airmen to defend it.

In the 621st Contingency Response Wing, every Devil Raider is responsible for security, and the 821st Contingency Response Group is ensuring these Airmen are prepared by creating the Expeditionary Combat Skills Training course.

The five-day training is designed to improve how contingency response Airmen are trained in air base opening combat skills. The course is run by security forces Airmen throughout the 821st CRG and included classroom and hands-on learning capped off with a field training exercise. The course included, live night fire with multiple weapon systems, active-shooter training, tactics, use-of-force and rules-of-engagement classes.

"In the CRW we have less than 30 cops, if you split that in half  for night and day shift that leaves us with 15 people  to defend the base and its assets if we are under attack," said Staff Sgt. Tyler Arnold, 821st Contingency Response Squadron defender. "The course we are teaching allows us to give the basic concepts of air base defense to the Airmen so we can depend on 125 people instead of 30."

Once the students completed the classroom and hands-on portions of the course, they took part in a field-training exercise, where they were tasked with defending a bare base from small-arms fire, improvised explosive devices and other insurgent attacks along with a number of other tasks.

"The last time I received hands on training in base defense was in basic training," said Senior Airman Scott Allen, 921st Contingency Response Squadron Air Transportation Flight.  "We need all of the hands on training we can get to include weapons familiarization, combative, radio training and how to relay a proper report. This course is teaching all the necessary tools to be proficient in a hostile area."

The 821st CRS Force Protection Flight commander, Capt. Jordan Criss, explained how as defenders, they owe it to the rest of the CRG to ensure they are being provided the tools they need to be more confident in their expeditionary skills.

"This course is designed to improve the CRG's ability to execute mobility operations in more austere and unsavory locations," he said. "This is not a new concept; the Air Force has been evolving since its inception to defend our airfields against threats to our airpower. Sir Winston Churchill said 'Every airfield should be a stronghold of fighting air-groundmen, and not the abode of uniformed civilians in the prime of life protected by detachments of soldiers.' This is even truer today as strategic airpower grows more dominant, yet becoming a very lucrative target for our enemies."

Contingency response units are self-sufficient and can deploy with all the personnel, equipment, and supplies to execute the mission. As a Global Reach Laydown force, they bridge the gap between seizure forces and follow-on sustainment forces. The 621st CRW are prepared to execute the mission for up to 45 days, and once they redeploy home they are reconstituted within 72 hours and ready to once again answer the nations call.