First Expeditionary Airman Combat Skills training session taught at Hanscom

  • Published
  • By Meredith March
  • 66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
HANSCOM AFB, Mass. --  Airmen deployed to the Area of Responsibility, in addition to performing their career-specific duties, are responsible for knowing how to protect themselves and others in any situation. To prepare Hanscom Airmen with upcoming AOR deployments, the 66th Mission Support Group, in accordance with Air Force regulations, developed Hanscom's Expeditionary Airman Combat Skills training -- a pre-deployment course teaching critical combat and survival skills such as weapons familiarization, defensive fighting positions, combat convoy operations and Integrated Base Defense.

"EACS enhances readiness skills to meet the challenges of an expeditionary force. Today's Airmen have a larger role when they deploy than just focusing on their specific assignment. This training will give everyone familiarity with and a better understanding of how to protect themselves when deployed and to react to situations outside their day-to-day jobs," said Tech. Sgt. Wayne Griggs, 66th Security Forces Squadron noncommissioned officer in charge of training.

Hanscom's first EACS session was held Nov. 28 and 29, and was offered to 14 Airmen, from various career fields, with the most immediate deployment dates. After completing a first day of classroom briefings, EACS students and trainers from the 66th Security Forces Squadron headed to Camp Patriot for further instruction and practical application of their skills and techniques in simulated scenarios. The trainees donned body armor and were issued weapons before being split into smaller groups for demonstrations on combat convoy operations, defense fighting positions and weapons familiarization.


"A lot of Airmen aren't around humvees and don't handle weapons nearly as regularly as the people they will be working with in a deployment situation, so it's important for them to learn how to operate and get more comfortable with them," Sergeant Griggs said. "You never know what situation you may come across and everyone needs to know how to respond to difficult situations."

At the conclusion of the demonstrations, the trainees utilized their training while participating in war zone simulations.

The training was helpful, said Tech. Sgt. Jillian John, 66th Mission Support Squadron unit deployment manager, in preparing trainees mentally as well as physically for deployment.

"You used to get your weapons and just deploy. This training helps you get into that mindset that this is not an everyday deployment. It has given me some idea of what I need to be thinking about, and what I should do to protect myself in any situation," she said. "You're going to certain places where you may need to use this type of training, so it's great to be able to put the theory that you read about into practice and actually do it."

EACS also reinforces the Integrated Base Defense concept, said Lt. Col. Christopher Toste, 951st Electronic Systems Group. "It reminds us that everyone is a sensor and we have to know what could happen, what the rules are and how to defend ourselves if it becomes necessary."

Learning these skills is especially relevant to the Global War on Terror, when troops are fighting an unpredictable enemy, said Staff Sgt. William Boyden, 66th Security Forces Squadron unit trainer. "In the old days, there were lines. You knew who the enemy was, what they were wearing, you knew their tactics and you could prepare for what you thought was coming at you. With an asymmetrical war, the war is all around us. There aren't front lines. There isn't an Army line, a Navy line, and then here's our piece. It's all around us. At any point everybody needs to be able to pick up a weapon and be a defender."

EACS training will be available monthly for AOR deploying Airmen. Servicemembers can schedule this training through unit deployment managers. For more information on EACS training, call (781) 377-6466 or e-mail William.Boyden@hanscom.af.mil.