451st ESFS combat arms team supports all ops

Published April 21, 2010
By Tech. Sgt. Renni Thornton
451st Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan -- The Combat Arms Training and Maintenance team, part of the 451st Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron, is directly responsible for ensuring each Air Force member is issued ammunition upon arrival at Kandahar Airfield.

In addition, the two-person team, Staff Sgt. Chanson Johnson, NCOIC, and Senior Airman Jacob Spencer, is directly responsible for certifying, inspecting and conducting function checks on all Air Force-issued weapons. That includes M-9 pistols, M-16 semi-automatic rifles, and other automatic weapons used by Air Force members on KAF.

The two also perform weapons repair. Within recent months, they have only had to make minor repairs to some weapons here, but other US services seek their repair skills on weapons not often used by Air Force members.

"Recently we had someone bring over a Browning .50 caliber machine gun. While we don't see many of them, we were still able to fix it," said Sergeant Johnson.

Most of the weapons used today are not brand new. In fact, said Sergeant Johnson, some still in use date back to the 1940s and 1950s, but are still functional.

Right now, among the US military services, only the Air Force sends CATM personnel to a two-and-a-half month advanced weapons repair training course, said Sergeant Johnson.

Aside from repairing weapons, the team tracks each round of issued ammunition.

"Most people don't realize how much paperwork is involved with tracking ammunition.

Most important though, is how critical it is for each individual to keep track of his or her own ammunition," said Sergeant Johnson.

"There is a lot of paperwork done when someone loses accountability of even one bullet. There have been occasions when members have had to reimburse the Air Force for rounds lost."

There have also been occasions when members have received non-judicial punishment under Article 92, Dereliction of Duty, Uniform Code of Military Justice.

The CATM team conducts inspections on issued weapons here twice a year. For new units, the two will conduct function checks on the weapons brought here before they are issued to the members.

"One of the new units here recently received their weapons. We use gauges and other tools to test the functionality of each one. We sign off on the paperwork and it's combat ready," said Sergeant Johnson.

In this case, Airman Spencer was very familiar with the weapons assigned to the new unit. He had conducted the same checks on that exact group of weapons at his home
station, Beale Air Force Base, Calif., shortly before deploying here.

"The main goal of inspections is to ensure the weapon doesn't fail someone when they need it the most," said Sergeant Johnson.

"Typically, we inspect 20 percent of any organization's weapons annually. If there are discrepancies among that group, we will inspect a larger number just to ensure all are operating well," said Airman Spencer.

The two have added some much-needed equipment too.

"We built three clearing barrels for users on KAF within the past two months. It's important proper procedures are followed when dealing with weapons," said Sergeant Johnson.

There are times when the two-man team will go to a unit to issue ammunition.

"It makes it easier for us and the members of a unit to go where they are. "Sometimes there are so many people to process, it's just easier if we go to their location," said Sergeant Johnson.