Airmen called to different duty

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Richard Matton
  • 570th Global Mobility Response Squadron commander
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Every Marine, a Rifleman! So goes one of the most well-known credos of the United States Marine Corps. Like us Airmen, Marines each have their own specialties. But the bottom line for the Marines is that no matter what their specialty happens to be, they are riflemen first. As the first to the fight, Marines must be extremely skilled at their basic function: Infantry. Now I know most of you are saying, “OK, I get it, but how does this affect me?” 

As members of today’s Air Force, we are continuously getting called to duties that have traditionally been ground force responsibilities. Just as an example, Air Force personnel are performing convoy escort duty or are liaison officers within tactical teams in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. 

As a member of Travis’ Contingency Response Wing, I have seen this new reality in action. The 570th Contingency Response Group recently held an internal field training exercise called Exercise Lightning Fury. This ten-day exercise was designed to develop a CRG’s “Open the Airbase” capability in a bare-base, semi-permissive environment.
This scenario is very typical of the environment that an AMC CRG can expect when deployed to perform their primary mission. 

During the exercise, our assigned 26-person Security Forces unit was charged with the mission of force protection for the 116-person deployed team. Sounds pretty standard, right? After all, that is the primary mission of Security Forces.
However, the environment that the CRG [and many Air Force units in today’s world] operates in requires that personnel from outside the Security Forces specialty augment in the force protection role; Lightning Fury was no exception. 

We had aerial porters, maintenance, and intelligence personnel dug in to their assigned defensive fighting positions throughout the exercise. They were firing their M-16s right along side their security forces brethren providing base defense during insurgent attacks. 

So, how do you prepare for this new world order as a member of the Air Force?
I would suggest a 3-point short list for this tall order.
First, we all need to maintain a higher degree of physical fitness. There needs to be more to our fitness culture than simply passing the Air Force PT test. 

Just during our short ten-day exercise, our medical team treated no less than four heat-related injuries. The one thing in common of the people that fell victim to these types of injuries was that they were not in the best of shape.
Second, it’s all about mindset. We, as Air Force members, must understand that we will [not may] be required to play an active role for any force protection plan in a deployed environment. 

We cannot rely solely on the force protection specialists. “Every Airman, a Rifleman” should be our credo as well.
Obviously, training is a big part of establishing that warrior mindset.
Leaders at all levels must search out new ways to get our folks properly trained to operate in today’s deployed environment. 

The initiative set out by Maj . Gen. Del Eulberg [AMC A-7] earlier this year establishing Expeditionary Combat Skills training is a perfect example of the type of instruction we need to pursue. 

Finally, I would like to encourage personal, professional development as part of your preparation. Reading inspirational books is a great way to accomplish this.
As an example, the Commandant of the Marine Corps has a book on his required reading list for all Marines [regardless of rank] entitled Rifleman Dodd.
Written by C.S. Forester, this is a short, relatively simple story about a light infantryman who is called upon to go beyond his primary area of expertise. 

The book’s emphasis on honor, courage and commitment is a great lesson for us as Airmen as well as for the Marines. It is truly an inspiring book that can show us the determination, innovation, and physical toughness that today’s Airmen must possess to succeed on the battlefields of today, and I believe, tomorrow. 

As our senior leaders have told us many times, we are in a protracted war against the terrorists. This war doesn’t show signs of ending any time soon.
We must be ready to assume new and increased responsibilities to do our part and give us the only acceptable end result:
Victory!