BEALE AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. –
Security Forces members are certainly no strangers to long days, scorching heat and the sound of weapons fire in the distance. The three-day Spartan Shield exercise held during the July Unit Training Assembly at Beale Air Force Base, Calif., featured all that and more for a Reserve unit's first annual field training exercise.
The 940th Security Forces Squadron's weekend-long exercise, July 6-8, 2012, provided essential training to Citizen Airmen set to deploy next year, and it gave a chance for squadron members to get acquainted with their new commander, Major Tyson Sorci.
"If the ball drops and the president says, 'I need you to go to point A, secure an airfield, take out any hostiles, and set everything up for Civil Engineering to build an airfield'," said Sorci, "I know my people can do this."
The exercise - the first of its kind for the unit - included transporting equipment pallets, setting up tents, and conducting a variety of training activities such as land navigation exercises, ATV and heavy vehicle certification, and weapons qualifications.
Staff Sgt. Peter Thompson, 940th Wing Combat Arms Training and Maintenance instructor, taught the basics of the M203 grenade launcher to exercise participants. The M203 shoots 40 mm explosive rounds with a kill radius of 5 meters. For training purposes, rounds filled with an orange chalky substance are used to simulate target contact, according to Thompson.
"This training is done to familiarize Reservists with the experience of shooting the grenade launcher," Thompson said.
Members also qualified with the M4 assault rifle and the M9 handgun, completing the new, more combat-oriented training, as well as night fire qualifications.
"This exercise gives them real-world training combined with the foundation they learned in tech school. We're tying it all together," said Sorci, who called the exercise a morale booster. "I want to motivate our squadron to excel in their job."
Entry control points were set up around the perimeter of the exercise area along with defensive fighting positions manned by four squadrons, running 24-hour operation cycles for two days and two nights.
"It's not bad at all," said Airman Kyle Williams, who was on entry control duty during the exercise. "It's definitely different than what a lot of other people do. It's kind of fun."
Following a day of land navigation and lessons on the ATV course, exercise participants were served a warm meal prepared by the 940th Force Support Squadron's single pallet expeditionary kitchen that was set up on site.
The exercise was a starting point for what the unit hopes to make an annual training event.
To view additional photos of Spartan Shield 2012, see slideshow at
http://www.940wg.afrc.af.mil/photos/slideshow.asp?id={A3431198-13A7-4CF8-8C54-575C5DC47CE7}