Airmen, DVs roll with SET

Published April 16, 2009
By Staff Sgt. Thomas J. Doscher
386th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- Airmen riding the bus on their way to the Rock for the first time may not realize it, but they're not alone out there. The 386th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron's Security Escort Team, armed and ready, are out there making sure each of those Airmen get to where they need to be safely.

Hand-picked by 386th ESFS leadership and specially trained prior to deployment in defensive driving and personnel protection, members of the SET are on standby 24 hours a day to escort Airmen and DV's to locations throughout the country.

"There are requirements established by ARCENT for moving and securing buses of people," said Tech. Sgt. Jacqueline Baumeyer, 386th ESFS Special Actions Team NCOIC. "With our training and that experience we have when you're moving that mass of personnel off-base, you can quickly react if something were to go down and be able to handle it quickly and safely."

Heavily armed but trained to be discreet, the SET trains and equips with the objective of maintaining a 100 percent safe arrival record, getting every Airmen where they need to go safely.

"We primarily move in non-tactical vehicles," the Aurora, Colo., native said. And we may wear the uniform or civilian clothes depending on mission requirements and whatever allows us to maintain a lower profile."

Most of the time in SET is spent preparing, training. Two or three hours is spent preparing for every hour on the road.

"There's a lot of preparation that goes into each mission to make sure it goes with as few problems as possible," said Staff Sgt. Valerie Brunelle-Allen, SET NCOIC deployed from Royal Air Force Mildenhall in the United Kingdom.

Originally from Glens Falls, N.Y., Sergeant Brunelle-Allen had performed security escort missions in Germany and Afghanistan. She said no matter how safe a country may seem, constant vigilance is required.

"With these times being as uncertain as they are, I've seen some crazy stuff happen downrange," she said. "Even though this is a generally safe environment, it just takes once to disrupt what we do. That's why we have to be on our toes at all times. And more to it than that is the fact that our driving experience in this traffic environment provides another level of protection for Airman from the vehicle safety threats out there. From a basic traffic safety analysis, these roads are deadly."

When not on a mission, the SET members spend their time training or reviewing procedures.

"Some of it is standard review or procedures, some is on the road driving and some is route sweeps," explained Sergeant Baumeyer. "We rehearse. We do battle drill rehearsals geared toward specific types of attacks and traffic scenarios and how we would react in those situations."

Sergeant Baumeyer said SET's goal is not to win a stand-up fight, but to get the people they escort out of harm's way as quickly as possible.

"We would use the necessary force to stop a situation and move the convoy forward," she said. "When you have a few people escorting hundreds of personnel, bringing the fight to them is not our goal. It's getting the people back in a safe manner."

With a small shop and a 24-hour, seven-days a week schedule, Sergeant Baumeyer said her people need to be flexible to meet the challenges they may face, but SET members take pride in that flexibility and the job they do.

"I'm up for any challenge," Airman DeVaughn King of Brooklyn, N.Y. said proudly. "I make do with everything. I think anything can happen at any time."