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379th ESFS personnel – training increases survival in combat

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Sabrina Foster
  • 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  Security Forces personnel at the 379th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron received training Dec. 20 to increase their survival in combat with High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) Egress Assistance Training at an Army camp in Southwest Asia.

More than 260 personnel were trained over a four-day period.

"The purpose of the training is to teach combat Airmen the proper procedures to egress from an inverted HMMWV," said Tech. Sgt. Thomas Williamson, 379th ESFS noncommissioned officer in-charge of training. "Conducting this training under controlled conditions will allow vehicle occupants to gain experience in the proper egress procedures. This practice is necessary for combat Airmen to achieve self-control and overcome natural fear and panic following the catastrophic event which led to the vehicle being inverted," he said.

According to a study reported by Helicopter World (now Defense Helicopter) magazine in September 2000, "A person who is 'egress trained' stands a 250 percent greater chance of survival than an untrained occupant when faced with an egress emergency."

The training was broken down into two sessions - a one-hour classroom lecture followed by hands-on rollover training in a humvee simulator, where trainees had to use skills learned earlier to quickly and safely egress and recover the vehicle.

During the classroom lecture, trainees learned the characteristics of HMMWVs, which included the different styles, weights and vehicle types. The lecture also covered rollover drills, rollover egress and water egress.

"This is probably one of the most realistic training scenarios that we can go through," Sergeant Williamson said. "This simulator is the closest thing to a real rollover that we will experience," he said.

"The Army has been training their Soldiers in HMMWV egress training for quite some time," said Kyle Torres, 379th ESFS training manager. "We coordinated with the local Army support group and they let us use their equipment to train our personnel," he said.

After the classroom lecture was over, the trainees donned their body armor, safety goggles, gloves and helmet for a ride in the humvee simulator.

"The simulator is a real humvee that had been sent to the defense reutilization and marketing office," Mr. Torres said. "The front and rear of it have been removed and the body of the humvee sits on a framework to hold it in place. An electric motor and gear box restraint, motor and transmission were installed, which allows the humvee to invert 180 or 360 degrees. Everything in the inside was left the same way," he said.

Overall the training was a success and a learning experience for all.

"It was crazy in there," said Senior Airman Trasy Rincan, deployed from Royal Air Forces Mildenhall, United Kingdom. "It just felt weird. I think if I was in that situation, I would know what to do. It was fun and a good training experience," she said.

"It was different," said Tech. Sgt. Gary Stansberry, deployed from Dover Air Force Base, Del. "It's very easy to get disoriented when you're upside down. Even though it was my first experience, I don't think I would have any problems getting out or directing my people to get out," he said.

Although the training was only a test, it will become a valuable tool in the time of combat.
"With the ever-changing role of security forces in today's Air Force, this training provides survivability of our defenders in Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of the world," Mr. Torres said.

"We train to fight and we fight to win."