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.
Members of the Air Force Reserve’s 920th Rescue Wing helped save 11 airplane crash survivors off the coast of Florida on May 12. The Reserve Airmen were flying an HC-130J Combat King II and an HH-60W Jolly Green II on a routine training flight when a Coast Guard call diverted…