Liberty Defenders conduct force-on-force training

Photo By Tech. Sgt. Dana Cable | Staff Sgt. Sergio Hernandez, 48th Security Forces Squadron military working dog trainer, trains with Ayron, a 5-year-old German Shepherd MWD, during force-on-force training at the Stanford Training Area in Norfolk, July 11, 2013. Members from the 48th SFS conducted a three-day training exercise at STANTA, an area that offers a realistic environment to help train airmen. Defenders from the 100th SFS, RAF Mildenhall, assisted this training by playing as opposing forces. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Dana J. Butler)  

STANFORD TRAINING AREA, NORFOLK, UNITED KINGDOM

07.11.2013

Story by Airman 1st Class Dana Cable 

48th Fighter Wing

RAF MILDENHALL, United Kingdom -Members from the 100th SFS, RAF Mildenhall, assisted this training by playing as opposing forces.

“Today (July 11) we are conducting force on force training with the 48th Security Forces Squadron in conjunction with representatives from the 100th SFS from RAF Mildenhall and various agencies throughout our base such as LRS (48th Logistics Readiness Squadron) and 48th Medical Group,” said Capt. Joshua Webb, 48th SFS operations officer.

STANTA is a military training area for training Airmen in a field environment. While at STANTA, Liberty Defenders got to practice a variety of scenarios that they may face on the job.

“Training of this nature is very important to the defenders especially because we don’t get these types of scenarios on a daily basis. So practicing these scenarios in real life in real world situations becomes very important,” said Webb.

The training was divided into four stations and consisted of extendable baton defensive training, active-shooter and domestic response scenarios, area searches and vehicle stops.

“Each station was for them to practice different things that they might come across in the real world such as vehicle stops or even something more violent that might come from a driving under the influence stop or a domestic situation,” said Jason Galvan 48th Security Forces Squadron flight chief. They also did active shooter scenarios, area searches alone and with K-9, and they also took part in their ASP (extendable baton) training and fulfilled their yearly requirement to keep that up to date.”

According to Galvan, the main objective while creating this training was to keep it dynamic.

“We tried to make it fast paced and tried to break everybody into groups where everybody could be involved and busy at the same time while still learning those core things that they need to know for each station. That was our main drive for this type of training, to make sure everybody was involved and moving,” said Galvan.

The training was a huge hit with the airmen, according to Webb.

“This training is getting positive reviews from the defenders. I think it’s going to be something we’re going to look at doing annually and maybe even more often than that,” said Webb.

RAF Lakenheath Defenders are already planning on how to make the next force-on-force training an even greater success.

“It’s very important that we share training scenarios and training time with our fellow defenders from RAF Mildenhall. At the end of the day, we all perform the same mission just in different locations. In the future we would like to develop bases beyond that, to include RAFs Croughton and Alconbury,” said Webb.

• Date Taken: 07.11.2013
• Date Posted: 07.18.2013 04:17
• Story ID: 110362
• Location: STANFORD TRAINING AREA, NORFOLK, GB