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Airmen maintain force protection through vigilance

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Abigail Klein
  • 407th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron
ALI BASE, Iraq --  They all have different backgrounds and different home stations, but the Airmen who work in the 407th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron Force Protection Section are conditioned and tasked with a critical duty: maintaining the installation's internal safety and security.

Though Airmen assigned to 407th ESFS and other deployed force-protection units throughout Southwest Asia may work as anything from medical technicians to public affairs broadcasters at home station, their job as force-protection escorts here requires them to focus their attention on operational security "inside the wire."

The 1996 bombing at Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, where 19 Airmen were killed, was a motivating factor behind the Department of Defense's decision to increase antiterrorism measures, including force protection, said Capt. Robert Shaw Jr., 407th ESFS commander.

This increase meant improving such measures as blast mitigation, standoff- and capabilities-based defense, installation vulnerability assessments using threat-based intelligence, and the use of escorts to monitor contracted work projects on bases in Southwest Asia, said Captain Shaw, who is deployed from Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark.

Before performing escort duty, Airmen must undergo specialized training, which teaches them basic force-protection skills such as handcuffing, searching, and weapons clearing, loading and unloading, said Staff Sgt. Kurt Pinkowski, NCO in charge of training for the 407th ESFS. The Airmen's primary duties include escorting and observing third-country nationals and local employees who perform various jobs such as stacking sand bags, cleaning restrooms or building fences within the base.

Escorts mitigate the threat of attack by ensuring that local citizens and TCNs are not gathering data that could later be used to assault DoD installations, personnel or resources, said Sergeant Pinkowski, who is deployed from Moody AFB, Ga. They also complement security forces in securing coalition assets and personnel while enabling the group's mission.

The job requires Airmen to adapt to situations, people and customs with which they may not be familiar.

"It's allowed me to learn more about the Iraqi culture than I would have ever learned at home," said Senior Airman Ann Ramsey, a force-protection escort who is deployed from her job as an aerospace ground technician at Lajes Field, Azores, Portugal.

Escorts' efforts have not escaped the attention of their peers in security forces.

"They work tirelessly, oftentimes in hot and dusty conditions, but their jobs are very important to the Air Force mission and the mission of the United States in rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure, government and economy," Captain Shaw said. "They may not have the most glamorous duties, but they're vital to completing the deployed mission, and they do their country and the Air Force proud every day."