18th SFS trains on Shoot, Move, Communicate

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Hailey Davis
  • 18th Wing Public Affairs
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan --  Airmen yell across a field for teammates to move from barrier to barrier, returning fire while their patrol is caught in a firefight during a Shoot, Move, Communicate training course here Sept. 6.

Shoot, Move, Communicate tests security forces members' ability to communicate with their teammates while taking cover from live-fire and returning fire in a simulated combat environment.

"Shoot, Move, Communicate is a course that was developed to provide security forces with a realistic simulation of actually being on the battlefield," said Staff Sgt. Stephen Green, 18th SFS training instructor. "(Personnel) are put through squad and team formations and movements to be able to move as teams and actually be countered by an opposing force firing bullets at them."

During the training course, instructors set up barriers for Airmen to take cover behind and return fire while their teammates run to the next barrier.

"(Personnel) run through basic obstacles they may be able to use for cover, concealment, or something that could shield them from the enemy and it depends on what operating environment they are in," Green said. "Sometimes you could encounter obstacles in an urban environment like buildings or in a jungle environment you can encounter trees, rocks, etc."

Shoot, Move, Communicate not only provides awareness of environments and surroundings, but also allows security forces members to move as a cohesive unit and learn new tactics which can be carried into a real life situation on the battlefield.

"(Training) simulates a combat environment, a high stressed situation that we can be put into as security forces, so it prepares (Airmen) for that situation and alleviates us from taking unnecessary casualties or anything like that in a combat environment," Green added.

Senior Airman Brandon Spears, 18th Security Forces Squadron force response member, said working with simulated ammunition rounds was crucial in giving him and his fellow service members a close to live fire experience.

"With deployments being outside the wire, we do things like foot patrols, so it sharpens my skills tactically in a deployed environment," Spears said.

This training not only prepares security forces personnel for combat environments but it also benefits and impacts Kadena in a positive way.

"This training impacts Kadena to where if there ever was an opposing force that arrives here on Kadena, the individuals that do this training in security forces would be able to combat those individuals using good tactics and squad movements," Green said. He added that personnel have now encountered simulated ammunition training, which provides realistic stimulus of what it is like being shot at.

Spears said that some cops can go through their career and never pull a trigger, but these training courses keep 18th SFS members skills sharp for if they have to pull their weapon.

"On (military installations), (we can respond to) a high risk response or an active shooter on base so (this training) furthers our knowledge on our weapons, communication skills with our teammates and counterparts and makes us that much more confident in our weapons knowledge," Spears said.

Whether on a deployment, or here at home station, Kadena 18th SFS personnel are prepared for anything that comes their way.

"As time goes on, we're always going to get more advanced and try to make ourselves better and Shoot, Move, Communicate is that step toward providing that realistic combat training," Green said. "If a real life situation does arise, (security forces personnel) have already experienced that stressful environment and what it's like (by participating in this training)."