822 BDS, 38 RQS conduct first integrated exercise

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Eric Summers Jr.
  • 23d Wing Public Affairs Office
MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. --  Gun shots from assault rifles are heard from multiple directions as a group of Airmen leap into windows and kick in doors of a building while scrambling for cover.

"Check the building!" screams one Airman over the continuous sound of gun fire. At the same time several other Airmen take defensive positions in the dimly-lit building and return fire on their attackers.

This was one of several simulated situations that members of the 822d Base Defense Squadron and the 38th Rescue Squadron experienced during the first integrated exercise with the two units Aug. 4-8, 2014, at the Guardian Center in Perry, Ga.

"In the beginning we weren't on the same page, but it seemed when the exercise kicked off our job was security and their job was rescue and we pretty much took care of that," said Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Behrman, 822d BDS Charlie Flight alpha fire team leader. "So anytime we had people that got hurt we took them to [the 38th RQS Airmen] and any time they needed security they pushed us out. So we did our jobs and just worked together. It went really, really smooth. Everyone clicked and worked together to pick up the slack."

The Airmen practiced multiple tactics in various scenarios during the intense training in more than 90 degree weather.

"The first couple of days we did some close quarters battle and military operations urban terrain training through the villages," said 1st Lt. Michael Root, 822d BDS Charlie Flight commander. "We cleared buildings, did key leader engagements, talked to the villagers, and established relationships. The last couple of days we were in a hostile environment."

During the final days of training, members from the 38th RQS parachuted into the training complex and provided rescue support to the 822d BDS.

"We were doing patrols and we got hit with a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device," Root said. "We got pinned down and took some casualties. The PJs had to come in and rescue everybody and we had to exit the village."

The training provided, for the first time, a chance for the two units to see how each other operates under hostile conditions.

"Prior to this training we didn't know their lingo, they didn't know our tactics and we didn't know their tactics," Root continued. "Now that we have integrated it will make downrange operations integration a much, much smoother transition."

The first integrated training between the two units was also met with other challenges beyond never working together.

"Typically whenever you pull units that don't train together, or have never trained together and you try to cram them into extremely stressful situations where they are up and sleep deprived, hungry and thirsty and force them to operate, usually it doesn't turn out as well as it did today," said Staff Sgt. Justin Miller, 822 BDS NCO in charge of evaluations. "But I think that our dudes came together and melded the way they needed to do to get the mission done and get out of here."

The integrated training will also help Airmen downrange by providing the experience of working together with other units beforehand.

"This type of training helps develop our Airmen by instilling that partnership now," Miller said. "I mean we are stateside so it's a lot easier to build on our training and to build on our integration here than when we get down range and one of the 820th guys gets hurt and the first time we are integrating with any of the PJs is when we are calling in a 9-line to get them out of a bad situation."