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JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq — Ramstein Airmen are providing crucial contributions to the force protection mission downrange, more specifically to the 332nd Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron Force Protection unit.
The 332nd ECES, located at Joint Base Balad, Iraq, is made up of Airmen from 60 different Air Force specialties, each charged with defending the base. Most work as force protection escorts, monitoring third-country nationals. During this deployment, some of those escorts are deployed from Ramstein – Airmen like Staff Sgt. Matthew Bickel, a deployed member from the 1st Combat Communication Squadron.
“Our team mission is to make sure we have 100 percent accountability of third-country nationals and local nationals here,” Sergeant Bickel said. “This applies to restricted areas as well as other areas that might be sensitive. We make sure they’re not gathering or transmitting critical information.”
Force protection escorts are vital to mission success in the deployed environment; they receive training by security forces and, in many cases, even augment the SF/FP mission.
“We aim to have their training completed within three days after getting off the plane,” Sergeant Bickel said. “They receive guidance in areas like vehicle and personnel searches, asp-baton training, weapons familiarization and use of force.”
Like Sergeant Bickel, other deployed Ramstein members are relying either on the deployment training they were provided or on the everyday experience they have in their own career fields.
“The different (Air Force Specialty Codes) that you see come into here all contribute something,” said Airman 1st Class Hursel Johnson, also deployed from Ramstein. “With my normal job being fuels, I know the flight line really well. Working on it all day, I know the rules and how to drive on it. Therefore while watching these guys and escorting them (on the flight line), I make sure they drive correctly. By doing this, I maintain the security there.”
Also deployed from Ramstein, Master Sgt. Cynthia Ramos, 332nd ECES, noncommissioned officer in charge of force protection, said the training, hard work and responsibility of maintaining security downrange may be something her Airmen take and apply to their work at their stateside duty locations.
“They are taking home what they know from their time here and what they learn here,” she said. “Having this time in-theater provides a lot of experience to take home and use. Being here, especially doing this job, allows them to really understand the military’s mission.”
(Editor’s note: Tech. Sgt. Michael Voss, 86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs, contributed to this article.)
