Keeping Eielson safe and secure

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Rachelle Coleman
  • 354th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska --  Security forces Airmen perform a wide range of duties from law enforcement using non-lethal weapons to apprehend without the use of deadly force to advanced combat tactics for base security when under hostile conditions.

Security Forces Airmen attend a technical school that lasts about 13 weeks -- training comparable to the 12 weeks required at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center for their entry level Uniformed Police Training Program. Alaska's law enforcement training academy is 15 weeks long.

The school provides extensive training for combat covering tactics, team movements, fire control, and base and resource security. Security forces Airmen are drilled continuously on procedures for how to operate under gunfire and military operations in urban terrain scenarios. They apply the training by setting up a mock base under field conditions, which they must secure day and night.

A significant portion of the school is dedicated to law enforcement training, which includes radio operations, apprehension techniques, searching, traffic enforcement, traffic stops, crime scene processing, domestic responses, crowd control, alarm responses, entry control gate guard procedures and other common situations where law enforcement officials could be tasked to respond.

The Airmen's training doesn't stop with the completion of school. They complete a minimum of 15 months in upgrade and on-the-job training before certification and then are rewarded with more training everyday with about three to four flight exercises per night.

"We pull different scenarios to tune into each patrol and ensure that everyone has the skill to do the job," said Master Sgt. John Reiland, 354th Security Forces NCO in charge of training. "The scenarios also help assess the flights' ability to work together."

These types of exercises consist of anything from alarm activations to domestic assaults. As with most security forces training, it also re-emphasis when and what proper use of force should be applied. The drilling helps security forces Airmen to confidently make quick decisions in the protection of life and resources.

"Exercises of this nature put the Airmen in real life scenarios to see what actions will be conducted when they are in stressful situations and must make spilt second decisions," said Sergeant Reiland, who has been a security forces member for 15 years.

Additionally, Eielson security forces members regularly conduct joint training with the Alaska State Troopers, Fairbanks Police Department, North Pole Police Department, and Fort Wainwright Military Police on subjects such as radar use and operation, impaired driver detection and testing, emergency vehicle operations, active shooter/barricaded suspect, high risk traffic stops, and domestic violence response.

"We do a lot of training with North Pole, Fairbanks, and Alaska State Troopers," said Staff Sgt. Justin Rawls, 354th Security Forces Squadron training instructor. "Training with them allows us to build a 'lessons learned' file on situations we don't typically deal with as well as strengthen joint relationships."

The strengthening and training not only improve the professional relationships with the neighboring law enforcement agencies, security forces Airmen who uphold the highest standards are selected to attend the Close Precision Engagement and Advanced Designated Marksman course or train to become military working dog handlers.

Security forces are continually looking for superior non-commissioned officers. Airmen from any specialty can contact the security forces squadron for information on how to retrain into the highly-visible, high standard careerfield.