Air Fo
rce Security Forces airmen, whether active or reserve, participate in various exercises and training to stay on top of their expanded post-9/11 mission. Two recent cases in point: Phoenix Warrior and Patriot Defender—both designed to maintain skills needed to not only defend airfields and aircraft but also operate in convoys and urban environments. The Air Mobility Warfare Center-run Phoenix Warrior at Ft. Dix. N.J. was on its first iteration, providing a 13-day predeployment course that many attendees said offered more extensive training than other exercises. Air Force Reserve Command sent 100 security forces airmen to Patriot Defender at Camp Swift near Bastrop, Tex., where training days lasted 16 “rigorous” hours.
The use of a military counter-drone laser on the southwest border this week—which prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to abruptly close the airspace over El Paso, Texas—will be a “case study” on the complex web of authorities needed to employ such weapons near civilian areas and the consequences of agencies…
