ASIR program enables safer work environment for Airmen

Photo By Tech. Sgt. Jeremy Bowcock | Staff Sgt. Heather Witherspoon, 386th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron training noncommissioned officer in charge, engages Airmen from the 386th Expeditionary Communications Squadron during an active shooter training response exercise Sept. 5, 2014. The Check Six team conducts active shooter incident response with units across the wing to ensure Airmen are able to escape, barricade or fight. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Jeremy Bowcock)  

(UNDISCLOSED LOCATION)

09.05.2014

Story by 1st Lt. Holli Nelson 

386th Air Expeditionary Wing

UNDISCLOSED LOCATION - Serving in the deployed environment has its fair share of potential threats but for the Check Six team at the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing, they’re doing everything in their power to combat those threats.

Through the wing’s active shooter incident response training, which falls under the Check Six program, four security forces Airmen ensure that military members stationed at The Rock are prepared to escape, barricade or fight.

“Due to our profession, the propensity for violence, the stress levied upon deployed members and the local threat makes the potential for a deadly incident highly probable,” said Master Sgt. John Chandler, Check Six superintendent. “It is our job to provide base personnel the awareness training to identify key indicators for prevention and the tools needed to respond if and when an active shooter or work place violence situation occurs.”

An individual’s response to a high stress or life threatening situation will be based on training received and muscle memory from battle drills or rehearsals. We want to ensure every Airman on base has the confidence to respond swiftly and decisively to save lives, noted Chandler.

Since the beginning of 2014, there have been nine active shooter incidents in the United States and abroad in the deployed environment, the most recent being an incident where Army Maj. Gen. Harold Green was killed in Afghanistan from a “green on blue” insider attack. Three of those nine incidents occurred on federal installations which brings to fruition the importance of the ASIR training in the deployed environment, he added.

The Check Six program operates 24 hours a day and seven days a week to provide services and training to personnel within the 386th AEW and 387th Air Expeditionary Group. The intent of the training is to increase awareness of all military members and practice muscle memory that will become critical in the event of an attack or violent occurrence. In addition to the ASIR training, this small four-person team also conducts combatives classes across the wing.

These classes teach Airmen ground fighting techniques to subdue assailants and neutralize violent situations and are offered at different times to allow maximum participation by all shifts.

“The initial training provided at the Rock-In brief, the robust ASIR training plus battle drills and the combatives classes drastically enhance all deployed members chances of survival and gives them the tools necessary to escape, barricade or fight during these events of violence,” said Chandler, who deployed from the 42nd Security Forces Squadron, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, and is a native of Athens, Tennessee.

“I felt 100 percent more confident [defending myself] than I felt prior to the training,” said Capt. Latasha Westfall, a clinical nurse with the 386th Expeditionary Medical Group and participant in one of the combatives classes.

The Check Six team also focuses on building strong relationships with partners across the base and has been able to work closely with individual unit emergency management representatives, anti-terrorism representatives, and security forces personnel. This close-knit relationship allows for the team to conduct battle drills that are realistic for those being trained.

“This takes close coordination with only the unit’s senior leaders and the role player to provide top cover and maintain secrecy in order to provide a realistic scenario for the battle drill,” said Chandler. “It will fall to the role player’s immediate leadership, peers and subordinates to practice detecting key indicators exhibited by those who may act out violently.”

While the team has already accomplished so much with their ASIR program at the 386th AEW and 387th AEG, their excellent training has been requested by other units in the area of responsibility. They have worked with the 455th Expeditionary Base Defense Squadron in Bagram, Afghanistan, and headquarters United States Air Forces Europe to incorporate ASIR and Check Six programs into those units. Additionally, they have assisted the Marine Corps mixed martial arts instructors here to incorporate techniques to disarm an assailant with a gun or knife.

Since coming onto this rotation, this small team has worked hand-in-hand with units across the base to accomplish training. In just under six weeks, they have conducted 10 ASIR classes, five combatives courses and provided newcomer’s briefings for personnel who deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom just arriving at The Rock.

Chandler highlights the expertise of his team, Master Sgt. Ian Mirkes, Staff Sgt. Lance Housh and Staff Sgt. Anthony Barnot, as the reason that they are so successful.

“The best part of my job is interacting with all kinds of different people and seeing the successful outcome of our training,” he said. “Interacting with the people and hopefully providing them tools that could potentially save a life one day make it all worthwhile.”

• Date Taken: 09.05.2014
• Date Posted: 09.05.2014 08:35
• Story ID: 141232
• Location: (UNDISCLOSED LOCATION)
• Hometown: ATHENS, TN, US