Joint defense training strengthens air base readiness

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Alexis Siekert
  • 51st Fighter Wing Public Affairs
OSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea --  Four Airmen from the 51st Security Forces Squadron Quick Reaction Team participated in a Republic of Korea Police Squadron antiterrorism exercise Oct. 20, 2012, to increase readiness to respond to real-world situations.

This marked the first time U.S. Airmen have participated in this type of exercise at Osan.
"Working with our counterparts is good team building and morale boosting," said Airman 1st Class David Ramos, 51st SFS QRT member. "It helps us see how they react in certain situations so we can learn to adapt and work together if there were a real-world attack."

The exercise scenario was based on terrorists trying to gain access to the base through use of force. Working together, the SFS members and ROK police demonstrated their capabilities to eliminate the threat.

"We jumped in the fire team with the ROKAF members to take out the offenders and maintain 360-degree security," Ramos said.

In a real-world situation, members of the QRT, a group of specially trained Airmen in high risk scenarios, would respond as back up for ROKAF Airmen.

Lt. Chois, Kwang Goon, Osan Air Base Ground Operations Center in charge of operation planning, explained that future plans entail more detailed scenarios for the teams to work through together.

"Earlier this month, security forces Airmen observed our training, so this was our first joint antiterrorism exercise," Choi said. "Both teams did their part very well.

"We plan to continue this training more often," he added. "Until now, we held this monthly exercise by ourselves, so we are glad to include security forces."

First Lt. David Nugent, 51st SFS officer in charge of air base defense and intelligence, expressed the necessity of joint operations.

"It is important for our Airmen to integrate to better defend," he said. "Our Airmen share posts with the Korean police so it's important to continue our training together. It takes us a long way in strengthening our force."