Photo By Senior Airman Brittany Kenney | U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Caspian Phillips, 28th Security Forces Squadron...... read more read more
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ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, S.D. – The 28th Security Forces Squadron joined forces with the 28th Civil Engineer Squadron and 28th Medical Group during "Cerberus Defender," a comprehensive multi-disciplinary field training exercise conducted July 14-23, 2025, focusing on integrated base security and emergency response operations.
Cerberus Defender focuses on air base ground defense operations training, enabling Ellsworth Defenders to test and refine their force protection skills through immersive training exercises designed for both home station and deployed environments.
“Everyday security operations is changing,” said U.S. Air Force 2nd Lt. Colton Horvath, 28th SFS flight commander. “Air base ground defense is essential to our career field, and we want to ensure that we revisit these skills and incorporating new one for that evolving threat.”
During this multi-day exercise, 28th SFS Airmen honed critical skills across five key areas: mission planning against diverse threat scenarios, weapons proficiency and handling, tactical security establishment in deployed environments, tactical combat casualty care (TCCC), and seamless squad-level communications.
“The reason [28 SFS Airmen] do these types of exercises is operational readiness” said U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Micheal Cockrell, 28th SFS patrolman. “As we practice law enforcement on a daily basis here, it’s required that our knowledge in air base ground defense stays fresh and relevant in a [Defenders’] mind.”
Cerberus Defender 2025 leveraged cross-functional expertise, with the 28th Civil Engineer Squadron providing instruction on rapid deployable shelters and the 28th Medical Group delivering tactical combat casualty care training.
“We are the guys on the ground, doing the things that most of the Air Force doesn’t see every day,” said Horvath. “It’s important that we know how to perform and that we capitalize on these skills if we’re in an environment where it’s needed.”
| Date Taken: | 07.18.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 07.18.2025 15:31 |
| Story ID: | 543244 |
| Location: | ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, SOUTH DAKOTA, US |
| Web Views: | 41 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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