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ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam: In the former housing area known as Andersen South, a team of Airmen patrol the abandoned, rundown facilities. They scan the front and back of the patrol, looking for anything or anyone out of the ordinary.
The Airmen are members of Andersen Air Force Base's 36th Contingency Response Group; this patrol is just one of several training lanes the Airmen participated in during a recent series of battle skills training.
As only one of eight units of its kind the 36th Contingency Response Group has a unique Air Force mission.
“Our mission is to provide the theater commander with a 911 response force to go out in some austere location perhaps an international airport and set up and initial air presence and Air Force presence in that base,” said Col. Kevin Kersh, the 36th CRG commander.
Airmen moved through five battle stations including reacting to direct and indirect fire. Much of what the CRG does is security based but with 129 members across nearly 40 different job skills, members must be able to react to any situation regardless of job.
“We have to be able to go into that airfield, into those austere locations and set up that airfield and pull security for that airfield and with a small group of people we have to be able to utilize everyone,” Colonel Kersh said.
“So, we take an person and we train them in a unique skill set, everyone gets a chance to do security, everyone gets a chance to load and off load planes and marshal aircraft. We take an Airman and we turn them into a CRG troop, not just security forces, or comm or ops,” he said.
As the Airmen negotiated the stations, trainers called out both critiques and encouragements, pointing out what airmen were doing right and what they could do better. This feedback is vital to helping Airmen in future missions, said Tech. Sgt. Brian Bibb, the 736th Security Forces Squadron NCO in charge of training.
“Ninety-nine percent of what goes into taking out a threat is communication, he said. “If we are not talking to each other we don't know what the other person is doing,” Sergeant Bibb said. “I may need this person to cover me while I move to take out the threat; if they haven't told me what they are doing they may have gotten up and left me exposed. So communication is vital.”
Team members say the training gives them more confidence not only in their own abilities but also in their team members on all sides.
“I feel a lot more confident,” said Staff Sgt. Scott Shrier, a 36th MRS loadmaster. “This gives me the confidence to help (security forces) defend the base.”
