Airmen, Soldiers team up to train Iraqi airmen

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Jason Lake
  • 321st Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
KIRKUK REGIONAL AIR BASE, Iraq (AFNS) --  Nearly a dozen Iraqi airmen graduated from a week-long security forces training session Feb. 12, organized by Airmen from the 321st Expeditionary Mission Support Advisory Group's base transition team and Army military policemen stationed at Kirkuk Air Base, Iraq.

The training session, spearheaded by members of the Army's 1st Brigade, 1st Division Military Police, demonstrated critical tactics, techniques and procedures to the Iraqi airmen preparing to take responsibility over more areas of Kirkuk Air Base, as U.S. forces continue to draw down.

"The training went real well," said Army Staff Sgt. Leo Guzman, one of the four Soldiers who, with the help of an interpreter, taught the Iraqi airmen how to conduct personnel and vehicle searches, secure crime scenes, and follow rules of engagement and escalation of force, among other things. "The Iraqi air force will be taking over soon, so we're preparing them for their duties and also training them to be trainers so they can pass on the lessons they've learned."

Sergeant Guzman said training Iraqi security forces is a step in a different direction compared to his last deployment to Iraq.

"Last time I was outside the wire looking in; now this time I'm inside the wire looking out," he said. "I was deployed during the initial push with the 18th Military Police Brigade during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Our unit stopped at Tallil Air Base, (Iraq), and then moved on to Camp Victory, Baghdad."

Capt. Tyson Daw, the 321st EMSAG's Det. 3 deputy chief of the base transition team, helped connect the Iraqi airmen with Soldiers like Sergeant Guzman as part of the BTT's mission to advise, train and assist the Iraqi air force.

"It's been a real group effort between contractors, Airmen and Soldiers here to develop a credible, sustainable Iraqi air force," Captain Daw said. "I'm not an expert in most of the fields that we're providing training, but the experts from around the base have been more than willing to jump in and take care of the mission."

The team of seven 321st EMSAG Airmen assigned to the Kirkuk Regional AB BTT are working multiple projects to ensure their Iraqi brethren have, at least, minimum essential capabilities as they take on growing responsibilities.

The BTT's efforts are centered on improving basic life-support functions, providing security and emergency response training and preparing the Iraqis to take responsibility over the airfield and base in general.

"Handing over an air base is not as simple as passing along the keys to buildings and property to the Iraqi air force with the hope that everything will just work out," explained Col. David Blanks, the 321st EMSAG commander in charge of the BTT program. "Instead, it's a systematic and orderly process to cover everything from perimeter security and basic life support to airfield operations. A myriad of details must be taken into account to prepare the Iraqi air force for full-fledged air base operations."