Sather Airmen make each shot count

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Amanda Callahan
  • 447th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs
SATHER AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) --  The scene is a typical firing range, not unlike what one would find built for a gun club or on an Army post or Air Force base. The line safety officers meticulously watch the novice shooters, holding their weapons properly, aiming at a silhouette target further down the range. "Is the line ready," shouts one Airman standing among the trainees in prone position. "The line is ready," echo others, kneeling next to the students. "FIRE!" Each shot disturbs the sand wall behind the targets, putting a cloud of dust in the air. 

This is not a range filled with Airmen in basic training; this is a vital part of building the Iraqi military.

Training, advising and mentoring Iraqi airmen and soldiers normally falls on the shoulders of the Coalition Air Force Training Team members or members of the Multinational Security Transition Command-Iraq. CAFT-T members of the 370th Air Expeditionary Advisory Squadron at New Al Muthana Air Base, Iraq, adjacent to Sather AB, have called in reinforcements from the 447th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron to help train Iraqis to defend and secure the air base.

Jundees are Iraqi army infantry privates currently undergoing training. Master Sgt. Charles Rivera, a security forces adviser with the 370th AEAS, trains the Jundees in many facets of security, such as base defense and patrols. With that, comes small arms training. Taking about 10 trainees at a time, Sergeant Rivera depends on the members of the 447th ESFS to help at the shooting range to ensure the Iraqi trainees are proficient in their weapons training.

"I usually have enough volunteers from (security forces) to work with the Jundees one-on-one," said Sergeant Rivera, deployed from Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. "Sometimes their skill level is really low, but we spend the whole morning working with them on the fundamentals to get them where they're consistently hitting the target. By the end of the day, you see the joy at how much they're able to fire, how much they've improved just with the practice."

Volunteering at the range is so important, said Tech. Sgt. Christopher Doherty of the 447th ESFS and deployed from the 107th Airlift Wing in Niagara Falls, N.Y. 

"It's a chance to see firsthand why we're here," he said. "We're here for the Iraqi people, and if this is how I can help, it's what I'll do. If we can get these guys to shoot on target by the end of their training, we've accomplished what we set out to do."

Getting them to the point that they're hitting the target isn't necessarily an easy task.

"It is a challenge, with the language barrier, to try to tell them how to hit the target where they should," said Master Sgt. Harold Cox, 447th ESFS, deployed from the 190th Security Forces Squadron of the Kansas Air National Guard. "We have to use an interpreter out there to tell them what to do, and they're shooting a different type weapon."

The AK-47s used by the Iraqi soldiers and airmen posed new difficulties for the Airmen responsible for training them due to the security forces Airmen's inexperience with the weapon, but members of the 447th ESFS and 370th AEAS worked together to overcome them. Many security forces members go through additional training prior to deploying to become familiar with different types of weapons, but as a refresher, Sergeant Cox has an AK-47 he shows the helping Airmen before they head to the range with the Iraqis and Sergeant Rivera. The familiarization with the weapon helps Airmen explain weapons discipline and safety while on the range.

"The weapons handling and training they (the Iraqis) have been provided (in the past) is nothing to the standard we have, so safety is not as big a consideration for them as it is for us. I've go to spend some time on safety," Sergeant Rivera said.

Echoing the attention to safety, Sergeant Cox said the weapon itself isn't conducive to a safe environment due to the lack of imbedded functions. The sergeant said the bolt of an AK-47 doesn't automatically lock to the rear when the magazine is empty. 

"So we have to really double check that they're cleared before we walk down in front of the weapons," he said.

In addition to the AK-47, the Jundees receive training on M-9 pistols and familiarization training with the M-4 rifle.

The trainers don't plan to stop making their Iraqi brethren proficient anytime soon.

"As long as we've got personnel out there (at New Al Muthana AB), we'll keep going down and helping them," Sergeant Cox said. "It's great to watch how excited some of them (the Iraqis) get after they get done shooting."

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