Japanese officers attend AF security forces basic course

  • Published
  • By James Coburn
  • 37th Training Wing Public Affairs
LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) --  The first Japanese air force officers since 1992 are attending the Air Force security forces basic officer course here.

“I would like to emphasize that we really appreciate being accepted here,” said Capt. Hideaki Nakamura, one of the three Japanese officers attending the nearly four-month-long course. The course is taught mostly at Camp Bullis by instructors from Lackland’s 343rd Training Squadron.

“Usually this course takes one student from one country,” Captain Nakamura said. “But this time, they accepted three of us at the same time, which is very rare. And, we are the very first Japanese officers to enter this course, so we are very excited about it, and we are very grateful to be here.”

John Martin, international military student officer at the Defense Language Institute, said records going back to 1992 show no Japanese officers attending the course.

“We really enjoy having foreign international students,” said Staff Sgt. William Truitt, a course instructor. He said when officers from the United States work side by side with foreign students, “it shows the young lieutenants that this is truly a (combined) service.”

Training foreign students, helps show that the key to success is through force multipliers and gaining support through foreign nations, he said.

“It’s different services and nations joining together for one cause, one commitment, whether it’s peacekeeping, whether it’s marshaling, whatever the job being, it’s going to be done jointly,” Sergeant Truitt said.

Countries that have sent officers to the course include Lithuania, Estonia, Great Britain, Korea and India. Sergeant Truitt said the foreign students normally work in the intelligence or antiterrorism fields, or in the case of the Japanese officers, at headquarters in the joint operations world.

Maj. Nobukatsu Kishiura, 35, the most senior of the Japanese officers, likened the headquarters at Ichigaya air force base in Tokyo to the Pentagon in the U.S. It’s about an hour’s drive from the Yokoto Air Base, Japan.

Sergeant Truitt said most of the officers attending the course (the maximum is 48) come directly from a commissioning source. It gives them their 3-level officer identifier, including the security forces badge and beret. The course includes security forces doctrine, history and shooting weapons, with qualification on the M-4 carbine and M-9 pistol.

The course was completely revamped and lengthened by one month last year, including tailoring it to an international course so its contents are applicable to all students. The course validation was finalized with graduation of its third class Jan. 9 -- so it provides college credit as well as an Air Force Specialty Code. A maximum of 48 officers can attend the course, which is 78 training days long, 70 at Camp Bullis and seven at Lackland.

“It’s been very useful,” said Captain Nakamura, 32, whose expertise is in air battlefield management. “We’ve been learning a lot about U.S. Air Force Security Forces. It’s been great, actually -- real amount of challenges in terms of physical training and English.”

Capt. Mitsuhika Shintaku, 30, a civil engineer, said, “All the instructors are very kind. They give us hope and support.”

Sergeant Truitt said the training emphasizes support and leadership.

He said the course includes a lot of antiterrorism lectures, along with scenarios that require them to analyze what they could do to better the situation. The goal is to show the students how to look “outside the box” and develop a plan to create, and mitigate deal with high-risk situations.