Kirkuk team eases transition to IqAF partners

Published Feb. 14, 2011
By Tech. Sgt. Jason Lake
321st Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

KIRKUK REGIONAL AIR BASE -- Nearly a dozen Iraqi Air Force airmen graduated from a week-long security forces training session Saturday organized by Airmen of the 321st Expeditionary Mission Support Advisory Group's base transition team and U.S. Army military police stationed at Kirkuk Air Base, Iraq.

The training session spearheaded by U.S. Army 1st Brigade, 1st Division Military Police, demonstrated critical tactics, techniques and procedures to the Iraqi airmen preparing to take responsibility over more areas of Kirkuk Air Base as U.S. forces continue to draw down.

"The training went real well," explained Army Staff Sgt. Leo Guzman, one of the four Soldiers, with the help of an interpreter, who taught the Iraqi airmen how to conduct personnel and vehicle searches, secure crime scenes, rules of engagement and escalation of force, among other things. "The Iraqi air force will be taking over soon, so we're preparing them for their duties and also training them to be trainers so they can pass on the lessons they've learned."

Sergeant Guzman, a 12-year veteran Soldier originally from Black Mountain, N.C., said training Iraqi security forces is a step in a different direction compared to his last deployment to Iraq.

"Last time I was outside the wire looking in, now this time I'm inside the wire looking out," explained the noncommissioned officer deployed from Fort Riley, Kan. "I was deployed during the initial push with the 18th Military Police Brigade during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Our unit stopped at Tallil Air Base and then moved on to Camp Victory, Baghdad."

Capt. Tyson Daw, 321st EMSAG's Detachment 3 deputy chief of the Base Transition Team, helped connect the Iraqi airmen with seasoned Soldiers like Sergeant Guzman as part of the BTT's mission to advise, train and assist the IqAF.

"It's been a real group effort between contractors, Airmen and Soldiers here to develop a credible, sustainable Iraqi air force," explained Captain Daw, who is deployed here from Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont. "I'm not an expert in most of the fields that we're providing training, but the experts from around the base have been more than willing to jump in and take care of the mission."

The team of seven 321st EMSAG Airmen assigned to the Kirkuk BTT are working multiple projects to ensure their Iraqi brethren have, at least, minimum essential capabilities as they take on growing responsibilities.

The BTT's efforts are centered on improving basic life support functions, providing security and emergency response training and preparing the Iraqis to take responsibility over the airfield and base in general.

Just an hour before the security forces training, Captain Daw and 1st Lt. Derrick Holton helped install and bury grounding cables for a pair of aviation fuel storage tanks with some of their Iraqi partners. At the same time, Senior Airmen Christopher Stevenson and Sarah Terry were observing IqAF firefighter training near the flightline.

One of the team's most notable accomplishments in recent months has been the completion of a water purification and bottling plant that now provides drinking water for nearly 1,000 Iraqis on base who, until then, depended on U.S. supplies.

There are currently six major Air Force BTTs operating in Iraq since the concept first began in 2010. The newest team, Joint Base Balad, started last month and joins the ranks of teams at Kirkuk, Tirkrit, Victory Base Complex, Ali and Camp Taji.

"Handing over an air base is not as simple as passing along the keys to buildings and property to the IqAF with the hope that everything will just work out," explained Col. David Blanks, 321st EMSAG commander in charge of the BTT program. "Instead, it's a systematic and orderly process to cover everything from perimeter security and basic life support to airfield operations. A myriad of details must be taken into account to prepare the IqAF for full-fledged air base operations."