Every Airman is an AT sensor

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Thomas Dow
  • Minot Air Force Base Public Affairs
MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. --  Thirty-nine members graduated from the Air Combat Command Anti-terrorism Level II training course here March 28.

The course ran from March 24-28 and was instructed by two Airmen from the 99th Security Forces Group, Nellis Air Force Base, Nev.

Tech. Sgt. Rustin King, an anti-terrorism instructor with the 99th SFG, said one goal of the course is to teach anti-terrorism officers and monitors how to run an effective AT program at both the installation and unit level.

This is accomplished by having the students first learn about the background of the AT program and what makes the program important to the Air Force.

Tech. Sgt. John Kienzle, also an anti-terrorism instructor with the 99th SFG, said the program was established in 1997 after the Khobar Tower incident in Saudi Arabia, where a bomb exploded outside a dormitory and killed 19 Airmen and wounded scores of others.

Sergeant Kienzle said after the incident it was obvious an official program was needed to prevent an incident like this from happening again.

Other items briefed to students at the course were introductions to terrorism and extremism, as well as individual-protective measures against terrorist threats. These are similar to what everyone learns in the AT Level I course, but a little more detailed.

While producing competent ATOs and ATMs is a high priority, the instructors said they want to stress to everyone how important every Airman is to the world of anti-terrorism.

"Every Airman is a sensor," Sergeant Kienzle said.

Sergeant King agreed and said while many people feel anti-terrorism is just for security forces and ATOs, each individual has a role.

"No one person is a keeper of all knowledge," Sergeant King said. "Everyone plays a valuable role in the anti-terrorism world."

After background information was briefed, the group was broken down into five teams and began performing exercises in threat, criticality and vulnerability assessments for assets on "Eagle AFB," the mock Air Force base used during the course.

Using a mock base allows the students to make realistic assessments on buildings and other assets without having to actually drive all over a base to do them.

While the mock base is used for the majority of the exercises, the class did have a chance to perform a vulnerability assessment on a real building on base. This gave the team members a chance to step outside their work area and see how other units handle the security of their assets.

"The fact that we were able to see something new and outside our regular job made it very interesting," said Master Sgt. Michael Fischer, the NCO in charge of electrical systems, 5th Civil Engineer Squadron.

After the teams finished the assessments, they worked together to produce a briefing for Eagle AFB's "commanders," played by the course instructors. The team briefed on what the installation's AT program stance is and any recommendations to fix deficiencies found. This gave the team a chance to see how a real-world installation assessment would be briefed to senior leadership.

The AT Level II instructors have 16 in-resident courses they teach at Nellis AFB, and 12 other courses are taught at various ACC bases throughout the year. They travel to all ACC bases every two years, and instruct National Guard bases at their request as well.

Once the Level II course was completed, those graduating have the knowledge to teach other Airmen "sensors" throughout the Air Force, which dramatically aids the fight on terrorism.