Combat skills training preps Airmen for war

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Gena Armstrong
  • Det. 12, Air Force News Agency
MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan (AFNEWS) --  Grunts, shouts and gunshots echoed through the fields here recently as nearly 90 Airmen pushed their bodies to the limit during expeditionary combat skills training. The Airmen dragged their bodies through the grass and mud in a low crawl, propelled themselves forward on their elbows in the high crawl, and sprinted only to have to drop down on the ground through the training.

The individual movement training was only the beginning of the field training exercise that marked the end of the group's expeditionary combat skills training.

"This training is very physically demanding. It's like a PT test times 50," said Airman 1st Class Benjamin Chirlin, who went through the expeditionary combat skills training.
The field training exercise provided practical application for everything Airmen studied through presentations and instruction in the first two days of the class. Students looked for unexploded ordnance hidden throughout the forest, practiced combat self-aid and buddy care, and encountered staged scenarios with hostile forces.

Taught by former security forces and special operations Airmen, the team shares personal experiences and tips for survival.

"The instructors are great. They've been there. They've done that," Airman Chirlin said. "They may seem really strict but they know what they're doing and they'll get you prepared. They're good."

Expeditionary combat skills training is taught throughout the Air Force, normally for Airmen getting ready to deploy in the next air expeditionary force cycle, with priority given to those deploying to Iraq, Afghanistan or the Horn of Africa.

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