Responsibility for keeping 30,000 people safe in Baghdad’s international zone is in the hands of some 45 security forces airmen, reports SSgt. Markus Maier. Deployed from Grand Forks AFB, N.D., Lackland AFB, Tex., RAF Mildenhall, England, and Ramstein AFB, Germany, the airmen comprise Det. 4 of the 732nd Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron. The airmen are the first responders in the event of an attack, and they tend to the injured as well as secure the scene. When not dealing with emergencies, they are on patrol checking identification badges, searching for security breaches, and setting up traffic control points.
The U.S. sent Air Force F-16s over central Syria in a show of force following the Dec. 13 killing of two U.S. Army Soldiers and one American civilian interpreter by a gunman linked to the Islamic State group.
