Praetorians brought recognition to AF, experience to Iraqi Police

Published June 11, 2010
By Staff Sgt. Sanjay Allen
U.S. Air Forces Central Command Public Affairs

CAMP TAJI, Iraq -- It's hot, there's sand in your eyes, the sun seems like it's an inch away from your face and it feels like you're constantly walking around in an oven. But the Praetorians of the 732nd Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron, Detachment 3, are walking around, some dancing, with smiles on their faces. That's because the 150-plus defenders from more than 50 bases around the world are preparing to go home after a one-year deployment to Iraq.

These defenders were tasked with advising and assisting Iraqi Police in law enforcement skills such as democratic and community policing, human rights, police values and ethics, crime scene management, interviewing and other tasks. This was done first at the local level then the district level.

When they first came into the area of responsibility in August 2009 - after two months of training at McGregor Range Base Camp, N.M. - they were assigned to Forward Operating Base Falcon, just south of Baghdad. Their focus there was going to local Iraqi police stations and partnering with the local police station commanders and Iraqi Police, or "Shurta".

The team went outside the wire, almost daily, to look at multiple areas of operational and logistic capabilities of the station they were visiting.

"Mission wise, we pushed all the time," said Capt. Alexander Vanlear, 732nd Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron, Detachment 3, operations officer. "Every day we had a mission outside the wire."

They looked at areas like manning, equipment, resources, the detention cell, their training officers and administrative personnel. They collected that information, and approached it by asking themselves, "how can we help?"

"That was the mission set at each particular station we were going to," the captain said. "It was collecting operational and logistical data, seeing how they were operating and providing any recommendations or assistance that we could to increase their operational and logistical capability."

Sounds simple enough right? Well, it was easier said than done. Throw into the mix small arms fire, improvised explosive devices, vehicle borne IEDs and that makes for a long deployment.

"That month and a half was probably the roughest, time wise, that we had here because there were a lot of things that happened in that time span that set the tone for what we thought the year was going to entail," said Captain Vanlear, who is deployed from Aviano Air Base, Italy.

There were no near misses while they were at FOB Falcon either.

While 1st Lt. Joseph Helton -- who was assigned to the 732nd ESFS, Det. 3, but was transferred to Det. 2 at Camp Stryker two weeks prior -- was on his way to conduct a relief in place with Captain Vanlear and Det. 3, he was killed by an IED Sept. 8, 2009. One week later, to the day, the Praetorians were moving through the same area when they also encountered an IED, that wounded two more Airmen who ended up leaving the team because of their injuries.

"In convoys, we took small arms fire and had a multitude of situations that happened where it was like every single time we were going out we had a situation -- like near miss IED strikes," Captain Vanlear said, adding that there were a total of four strikes on them. "All these things happened within a three-week span and then Lieutenant Helton being killed and (Senior Airman Philip) Newlyn and (Airman 1st Class Eddy) Kelley getting wounded. This was how we started our tour; a string of leadership challenges were thrown in our face within that first month and a half in country."

Staff Sgt. Justin Stubbs also sustained minor injuries during the deployment but was able to stay with the team.

The team's thoughts were, "Wow. This is what the next year is going to be like," the captain added.

Fortunately, their mission changed and they moved to Camp Taji because of other police transition team battalions departing. After seven weeks at Falcon, their operating environment moved north and east resulting in an area of coverage that tripled. The larger environment required they deal with the Iraqi Police primarily at the district level rather than solely at the local level. This shift and expansion meant the Praetorians covered the largest PTT mission area in Air Force security forces history.

"The tempo started to pick up a little bit as we were preparing to move up to Taji," said Senior Airman Julius Paster, 732nd ESFS, Det. 3, who is also deployed from Aviano AB. "We still would have done a good job at Falcon but the move kept us out of harm's way."

With the remission to Taji, they took over the Taji Law Enforcement Academy from the Army's 591st Military Police Company in October 2009 where they served in an advise and assist role to the Iraqi academy.

"We provided as much assistance, training, insight and recommendation as we could," Capt. Vanlear said. "The Iraqi Police have established themselves as a police force and become extremely self-sufficient.

"Taji Law Enforcement Academy has been something that has paid a lot of dividends in reference to our partnership with the Iraqi Police," the Hampton, Va., native said. "They bring in students from all over. We basically oversee the training but it's Iraqi led. The instructors are Iraqi officers and the students are basically non commissioned officers, like a sergeant."

While at Taji, they still weren't immune to going outside the wire like they had been doing at Falcon.

There were two key missions which caused their outside the wire tempo to surge here. One was the six week long national election poll site vulnerability assessments and planning with the Iraqi Police. They worked at the grass roots level on foot patrols side by side with IPs across the northern districts at the highest-threat poll sites. These operations were very successful and the assessments resulted in zero casualties around their coverage area.

The other reason for surging was the exploitation and investigation task force, which required them to respond to any incident that occurred whether it was a homicide, assassination, execution, IED strike, explosively formed projectile or VBIED.

"We would respond and link up with the investigative officer who is an Iraqi Police officer" the captain said. "We go out to the Iraqi police station, pick up the investigative officer and take them out to the incident, then assist them with exploiting the scene."

After exploiting the evidence, the investigative task force takes the evidence and, if there's enough, they would follow up with their Iraqi Police counterparts, assisting them on their efforts in putting together a prosecution package for a warrant.

Captain Vanlear believes the exploitation and investigation task force was the last piece of training they could provide their Iraqi counterparts. In order to give them this piece, they brought in Joint Task Force Troy, a counter-IED organization to train the defenders and Iraqi investigative officers in IED recognition and crime scene preservation.

"As a result we have been able to effectively go out, link up with the IPs and bring them onto an incident scene for an IED strike," he said.

The advise and assist mission they have just accomplished here has brought the unit and the Air Force praise from across the spectrum -- even the Army who used to do this mission and are traditionally the service with, "boots on the ground."

"Army personnel will roll up at the station and see us and they're like, "whoa! What are you doing here? You're Air Force," said Senior Master Sgt. Julia Blair, 732nd ESFS, Det. 3, operations superintendent, who is deployed from Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. "We're not used to you. You're not supposed to be out here. You don't come outside the wire."

Captain Vanlear added that the Army may be surprised to see them outside the wire, but because of the relationship they had established with the Iraqi Police, the unit had become a hot commodity.

"The Army knows they need us out there because of our partnership with the IPs," he said. "They have realized the partnership that we've established with the Iraqi Police. They don't have that same rapport."

The reputation this squadron has built has made them proud to be who they are and where they are.

"It makes you proud to, one, be a security forces member and to be a member of the Air Force," said Sergeant Blair, who hails from Yeadon, Pa. "It is very rewarding to know that you contribute in that way."

The feeling is felt throughout the squadron on the eve of these defenders flying home.

"I'm proud to be a part of this mission," said Airman Paster, of Oglethorpe, Ga. "I've been able to help them accomplish the training and experience they need to sustain this country. The IPs were lacking a lot of training and confidence in their job and I was here to help them gain it."