Praetorians shut down historical 732nd ESFS, Det. 3

Published July 12, 2010
By Staff Sgt. Sanjay Allen
U.S. Air Forces Central Command Public Affairs

CAMP TAJI, Iraq -- The 732nd Security Forces Squadron, Detachment 3, was inactivated July 3, at 7:32 a.m. during a ceremony where less than 50 of the remaining defenders saw their unit's colors cased.

"This ceremony marks the end of the Air Force's first, and longest, active police transition team in history," said Lt. Col. Dustin Sutton, 732nd ESFS commander, during the ceremony. "In the past four years we have been an integral partner with our Army brothers in building the Iraqi Police capacity to a self-sustaining level."

The focus of the detachment was to work with the Iraqi Police and transition them toward police primacy, which means putting civil law and order in the hands of civil authorities opposed to having the Iraqi army have this responsibility in Baghdad, Iraq.

"The goal was to get the Iraqi army out of the cities and out to secure the borders and have the police secure the cities," said Maj. Shawn Covault, 732nd ESFS, Det. 3 commander.

In order to do this, they partnered with the Iraqi Police to enhance law enforcement capabilities throughout half of Baghdad and the surrounding areas where they were responsible for approximately six million people as a police transition team.

Colonel Sutton, who is deployed from Misawa Air Base, Japan, explained during the ceremony that the Army submitted a request for forces to the Air Force to take over the Baghdad area of operations. This type of deployment and mission is something the Air Force has never done before because it was primarily an Army tasking, he said.

The mission began in 2006 when the 824th Security Forces Squadron from Moody Air Force Base, Ga., stood up as Det. 7 and partnered with, and trained, the Iraqi Police in one of the most deadly neighborhoods in Baghdad, known as the Rasheeds.

After six months, the 824th left and made way for what became Det. 3 and each year a new team of defenders made up from squadrons across the Air Force rotated in and took on their own call signs. They took on names like the Ghostwalkers, Renegades, Wildcards and finally the Praetorians.

"Each year a whole new group of folks would come in from security forces squadrons all across the Air Force," said Major Covault, who is deployed from Peterson Air Force Base, Colo. "Every (major command) is represented. I don't think I have more than maybe five cops that come from any one squadron. There is a lot of diversity in terms of MAJCOM representation on this mission."

The security forces teams have conducted the mission so well that all defenders will now train for this unique mission.

"This is the first time this type of deployment was taken on and they're finishing it up, we are mission complete," said Major Covault, who hails from Houston. "We've done it well enough that now security forces is looking at it as a core competency in future operations down the road."

Unfortunately their success has come at a high cost. The security forces career field has lost eight Airmen since the war began and four of them have been from Det. 3.

"We lost four members of our family," Colonel Sutton said closing out the ceremony. "You've ensured that their sacrifice was not in vain. That what they gave to the people of this country and the stability of a region will have lasting effects, and I believe this is the beginning of a new age for the Iraqi people."

A new age is upon them, which is why the 732nd ESFS, Det. 3, can close up shop and hand the reins over to the Iraqi Police.

"They've gotten to a point now where the police force is established, it's well-trained, and that was all because of this detachment," said Colonel Sutton, who hails from Browns Mills, N.J. "And now they're able to uphold law on the local population to the point where they're a credible force."