Elite team provides security for airlift assets

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Brok McCarthy
  • 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFNS) --  An elite team of hand-picked security forces Airmen here are tasked with providing security for airlift assets that travel into unsecure locations in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility.

The 379th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron fly-away security team travels with airlift assets anywhere security is deemed inadequate, said Tech. Sgt. Todd Tomlinson, the FAST assistant NCO in charge deployed from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam.
"This mission allows us to transport resources and personnel into unsecured locations with a relative degree of safety," he said.

FAST members are typically selected by their home base security forces commanders to support this special mission.

Prior to arriving in the AOR, Airmen go through a two-week course at Fort Dix, N.J., which includes baton training, combative training and use-of-force scenarios. Airmen also participate in verbal judo scenarios and learn how to diffuse tense situations through communication rather than use of physical force.

"I didn't actually know anything about this mission until I went through the training. It was the first time I heard anything about it," said Airman 1st Class Corey Davis, a FAST patrolman deployed from Eielson AFB, Alaska. "Once we were here and I did a few missions, I was more excited about it. It's a lot better than other security details I could be doing."

One of the most difficult parts of the mission for FAST members is the unpredictable sleep schedule, Sergeant Tomlinson said.

"Once we're out here, how often we go on missions varies," he said. "There will be days when we have no mission at all, then there will be days where we have three missions in one day and the next day we will have one or two."

Once they are notified of an upcoming mission, FAST members do many of the pre-mission activities aircrew members do. The team goes into crew rest 12 hours prior, receive intelligence briefings and get any gear they need prior to the sortie. Once they arrive at the plane, they will typically help the crew out with whatever needs to be done, including loading cargo or other tasks.

"A lot of our missions we will go between two and five locations throughout the day and maybe one is FAST required," Sergeant Tomlinson said. "So, if a team goes up to Joint Base Balad, Iraq, we don't work there -- we are still just helping out the loadmasters and staying out of the way."

"Now when we go to [locations without U.S. security in place], we get off the plane and we provide 360-degree security around the plane," he said. "One of the biggest things we help out with is in a lot of these countries there are always important people who want to greet the U.S. personnel. The aircraft commander has so much going on, we make sure no one gets on the plane unless the aircraft commander says they can."

Most of the time, a mission will only require FAST support for a few hours, Sergeant Tomlinson said. However, if a plane has maintenance issues at a location that requires FAST support, the team will stay with the plane overnight, even if the aircrew leaves. They make sure no one stows away or vandalizes the aircraft overnight.

One of the team members said these unexpected stops can lead to some of the most interesting experiences.

"I and another Airman had a three-day trip that was originally supposed to be to drop some (distinguished visitors) off in Lebanon and stay overnight in Egypt," said Airman Davis, a native of Bremen, Ga. "Everything went as planned until [Egyptian customs] wouldn't take our passports."

"So we were going to spend the night in Greece, but we broke down in Lebanon and had to stay there over night, and I ended up pulling night watch," he said. "It was interesting because the Lebanese scream, honk their horns and fire off their guns when someone gets married, which happened that night. So we were a little tense until we found out what was going on."

Sergeant Tomlinson said FAST Airmen all do a great job completing their missions, even when there are unexpected occurrences.

"We've never missed a sortie, never delayed a mission, so our biggest thing is we've always gotten the mission done," he said. "I really like these guys in that aspect. We have 14 people total and we've had a few bumps here and there, but the Airmen are all squared away."