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Security forces advise Iraqi police for elections

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Jarrod R. Chavana
  • U.S. Air Forces Public Affairs
TARMIYAH, Iraq --  The 732nd Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron Detachment 3 arrived at their building Feb. 15, three hours prior to going on a mission to visit with Iraqi police and inspect a polling station. Before each mission, the unit inspects their vehicles then arms them with heavy weapons, like 50-caliber machine guns, then tests all communication devices.

Once that's done, they enter a room and receive a series of briefings, such as intelligence and patrol, which builds a picture as far back as 90 days. These briefings cover previous dangers, driving routes and battle drills they will perform during their mission.

Before they leave, the patrol goes through another 30 to 45 minutes of scenarios, so that the expected and unexpected dilemmas have been covered.

The 732nd ESFS Det. 3 then departed Camp Taji to conduct a joint polling station assessment with the Iraqi police.

The purpose of these assessments is to build a rapport between U.S. Forces and the Iraqi police, while providing key insights to force protection at polling sites for the March 7 elections.

"It's become a typical day, since we've been doing missions for the last six months," said Staff Sgt. Jared Winker, 732 ESFS Det. 3 assistant squad leader. "At first everyone was nervous -- especially the new guys -- because you never know what to expect, so you expect the unexpected."

"Once we got to a polling station, the first thing we wanted to do is cover possible approaches where someone could possibly attack us or the election site," said Sergeant Winker, who is deployed from Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. "We also look at people who look suspicious, that keep walking by our vehicles over and over with their hands concealed in their pockets, or someone that's wearing bulky clothing."

On this day, the Iraqi police would lead the team to a polling sight that was surrounded by high buildings, with children playing soccer in a sand lot and civilians coming out of their homes to expect the visitors. The team was on watch because it wasn't the location originally detailed during the earlier brief.

"Today was kind of confusing because we were supposed to go to one grid coordinate and we went to a different location, said Senior Airman Christopher Jodice, a 732 ESFS Det. 3 convoy driver and close precision engagement counter-sniper, who is deployed from Hickam AFB, Hawaii. "What I did was scan the area for target detection to look for things out of the ordinary. I looked at groups of peoples and checked to see if anyone had anything bulky because if you can see it from afar you can eliminate the threat from far."

After creating a security perimeter, Det.3 walked around the building to inspect the cement barriers used to protect the structure from attacks and scanned the roof tops of houses for dangers. American forces collected this information and then provided it to the Iraqi police as suggestions to create a safer environment.

"Today was huge in our standpoint and the Iraqi police as well, said Airman Jodice, a native of Weehawken, N.J. "This election is what we have been working toward, and everyone is focused on having a successful Iraqi election. Although today's location wasn't what we were expecting, we set up security and we now know what's out there and how to counter it. The Iraqi police can start developing a plan on how to maintain the area."