LANGLEY AFB, VA. –
Pop quiz, hotshot. You’re walking back from the shower to your trailer at Balad Air Base, Iraq, when mortars start exploding 100 yards from where you’re standing. You’re in a towel, and the nearest hardened shelter is 200 yards from you.
What do you do?
Fortunately, if you’re going to the Central Air Forces Area of Operation on your next deployment, the 1st Security Forces Squadron’s Expeditionary Combat Skills training course is going to tell you what to do in the event of a mortar attack. (By the way, the answer was “hit the dirt.”)
The two-day course is designed to give Airmen with little or no background in combat operations a look into what is expected of them in a combat situation.
“At any given time, any AFSC can be called on to do convoys or augment security forces,” said Master Sgt. Tony Resurreccion, 1st SFS Training Noncommissioned Officer in Charge. “This class gives them the combat skills to react to enemy fire.”
The course is divided into two sections: classroom and field applications. Students learn weapon issue and turn-in procedures, load bearing equipment and body armor, maintaining the M-16 rifle, Use of Force and rules of engagement, a variety of combat skills, fighting positions, air base defense and rifle fighting. The second day is spent in the field, practicing what was learned in the classroom.
“Everything they were taught is practiced,” Sergeant Resurreccion said. “Convoys, sniper attacks, stuff other AFSCs don’t normally do. We teach them how to react to an enemy attack.”
The class has taught more than 1,400 Airmen since the first session in March 2005, and is constantly expanding. Wednesday’s class featured lessons on surviving a mortar attack.
Master Sgt. Matthew Barresi, incoming 1st SFS Training NCOIC, returned from Camp Bucca, Iraq, in March. He said a combat class is necessary to educate Airmen on what is expected of them.
“One of the things a lot of Air Force people have in the back of their minds over there is that if it’s not my AFSC, I don’t have to worry about it,” he said. “Any one of us can find ourselves in a hostile environment. The guy trying to kill you doesn’t care what your AFSC is.”
One unexpected fan of the class is the Army, said Sergeant Barresi.
“Everything being taught here is how the Army is doing business over there,” he said. “They’re saying, ‘Hey, we didn’t know the Air Force knew how to do this stuff.’”
Instructors said the course is vital, but needs more volunteers to teach.
“What we want is subject matter experts to participate,” Sergeant Resurreccion said. “With our ops tempo, it’s hard to keep our instructors. Individuals in a lot of fields who’ve deployed could come teach a class.”
Sergeant Barresi said he has seen the benefits of the training.
“In every situation we saw where stuff hit the fan, the training kicked in,” he said. “If we sent them without this, what would they fall back on?”