Airmen train Iraqis to be first responders

Published Sept. 3, 2009
By Senior Airman Alysaa Miles
U.S. Air Forces Central Public Affairs

BAGHDAD (AFNS) -- Two Airmen stationed inside the International Zone here are in the process of training Iraqi firefighters to be able to respond to a crisis at a moment's notice.

By the end of this training, Master Sgt. Jeffrey Kimball and Tech. Sgt. Essam Cordova, 821st Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron, Iraqi Training Advisory Mission fire rescue advisors, said the Iraqis should be capable of running a response system similar to 9-1-1 in the United States.

"The best way to think about it is when you call 9-1-1 you feel like you're safe, and we're trying to do the same thing for the people in Iraq," Sergeant Cordova said. "We work with civil defense, which is the equivalent to a city fire department, with all agencies from airport firefighters at the Baghdad International Airport, to city and Iraqi air force and army firefighters."

The two sergeants, who are both deployed from Goodfellow Air Force Base, Texas, are teaching a total of nine courses -- from basic firefighting to management -- to Iraqi firefighters, some of whom have never responded to a fire before. When their mission is complete, more than 1,500 Iraqis will be trained.

"We're teaching the fire department to become firefighters from the basic level all the way up to fire chief, building from the ground up," Sergeant Cordova said. "We're teaching them how to fight fires, repel from buildings, pull an individual from a mangled car and mass casualty operations.

"It's crucial to make sure I run a successful program," he stressed. "If I fail, I don't just fail myself, I fail the people of Iraq. I can't fail."

To ensure the Iraqis are receiving the best training available, Sergeant Kimball said they have simulated training someone would receive going through the Department of Defense Fire Academy at Goodfellow AFB. Additionally, some Army personnel assist the Airmen in their training by teaching hazardous material, medical technician and chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosives classes.

Sergeant Kimball says the Iraqis were sometimes hesitant to complete the task-at-hand.

"One day we were conducting rescue repelling training," Sergeant Kimball said. "Some of these guys have never trusted an American before, and here we were telling them to trust a three-quarter inch rope to repel down the side of a three-story building, rescue someone off another line halfway down and continue to go."

Sergeant Kimball said a "can-do" attitude spread through the group like wildfire as more and more Iraqis successfully completed their mission, and that the excitement of their success could be seen on everyone's face.

"I had a big smile on my face, and they did too," Sergeant Kimball said. "At first they were so scared to go over the side of the building, but now they're getting faster and faster every day. They didn't believe me at first, but now they're literally taking one jump off the building and they're on the ground.

"They don't always take to putting trust into new people," he continued. "They trust us more and more every day, and getting involved in their culture shows them we respect them."

Sergeant Kimball takes pride in his work here and encourages his successors to appreciate the opportunity provided to them.

"It's an awesome opportunity to be an advisor in this country," he said. "I tell younger Airmen any time they are able to do something like this, they should jump at it because it's an awesome, incredible experience to be in Iraq or Afghanistan and work with their personnel. This has been one really incredible position."

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