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Defenders Day helps educate Team Osan on 51st SFS

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Kristina Overton
  • 51st Fighter Wing Public Affairs
OSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea --  Security Forces Airmen, defenders of the installation, work diligently to secure Osan Air Base and its assets. With a wide variety of career fields represented in the squadron, the public may not realize all that the jobs entail. To help educate the base, the 51st Security Forces Squadron hosted Defenders Day at Bldg. 1425 March 9. The event highlighted the different services that Security Forces Airmen provide to the community.

"Initially we just had a mentorship program for the high school students and young Airmen to shadow our jobs and see if it was something they were interested in doing after graduation or for cross training," said Staff Sgt. Patisha Johnson, 51st SFS command support NCO. "Then we developed the idea of Defenders Day to expand on that program and give the entire community a chance to see what we do and educate them."

The activities ranged from a Military Working Dog demonstration and Quick Reaction Team demonstration to games, displays, competitions, races and more. A weapons demonstration was also a popular hands-on activity at the event, giving Team Osan a close up look at the .50 Caliber, M-240B, and M-249 Machine Guns and the MM-K19.

"We had some great feedback and participation for this event," Johnson said. "People really showed interest in all of the demos and we got to share a lot of valuable information, not only about our career field, but ways to keep the installation safe. It's important for people to understand what we do and our full capabilities here. We educated the community about active shooters, how we protect the base and what we look for when seeking out the enemy."

Defenders throughout the squadron volunteered to make the event a success. Senior Airman David Morrow, 51st SFS knowledge operator, assisted in the event by cooking and selling hamburgers, hotdogs, frito pies, chips, and sodas to the participants.

"I enjoyed being able to set up and boost morale for the troops and community that came out for the event," said Morrow. "We don't just check ID cards for the base. Security Forces encompasses so much more than that, and it was nice to be able to showcase those capabilities and contribute."

This was the first Defenders Day event on Osan Air Base.