From the Security Directorate

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Written by Roy Collins

Category: Guardmount/News

Published: 06 November 2019

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Our Path to a More Lethal and More Ready Defender!

By BG (Sel) Roy W. Collins, SF Director 24

It has been a fast month stepping in as your new Director of Security Forces. I made a promise during this time to assess where we are and more importantly, how to move us forward.

There is no question that our Security Forces Airmen deserve the absolute best opportunity to achieve their mission, whether it’s in the missile field, on a flight line or at any of our installation access control points. The Chief of Staff of the Air Force demands a More Lethal and More Ready Security Forces enterprise. How can I help you be the best Security Forces Airman you can be? This is the question I strive to answer every day. To that end, we are going back to basics in some regard while also preparing for the future by focusing on Training, Modernizing, Standardizing and Enhancing our Culture and Environment.

Training is the foundation that makes us more lethal and more ready. We will continue to focus and refine our efforts to ensure our Defenders are not only “qualified” but become proficient at the core skills. Repetitive training may not sound exciting but it’s what’s needed to ensure our professionals gain the muscle memory to efficiently respond to any situation to neutralize the threat, both home station and forward deployed. It’s also not just about repetition, which is important, but also the quality of the training our Airmen receive. Training must be executed with the importance it demands because failure to do so can lead to catastrophic consequences. Our National Defense Strategy states that “there is no sanctuary” and our mission remains the same no matter where we don the Blue Beret.

Modernizing our capabilities is a necessity to ensure our Defenders have the best weapons, personal gear, vehicles, communications equipment and command and control platforms. Our Defenders must have the most modernized equipment to provide them with the advantage to detect, deter and defeat the threat in any environment. Many of our Defenders have been achieving the mission without this and I commend you for the great work you’ve done. The budget battle is ongoing, every year, and though you might never hear about the details of these meetings, know your leadership team, with the support of the Chief of Staff, will continue to fight this battle.

Standardizing our equipment where it makes sense, is an important next step to ensure our Defenders possess the same resources and capabilities, no matter where they are. This standardization includes personal protective equipment and our duty equipment utilized every day on post. This will enable us to conduct our home station mission and our forward deployed mission with the same equipment and prevent the need for just-in-time training. Additionally, standardization of equipment will also feed our efforts to provide consistent training, as stated previously.

Enhancing the culture and environment for our Defenders is just as critical as the equipment you need to do your job. I cannot state this strongly enough. As we all know, this past year has been incredibly challenging across the Air Force and unfortunately, there is no magic solution. Trying to change the culture of any group is a difficult challenge because it requires a shift in mindset that happens slowly, one Defender at a time, one interaction at a time. Yes, leadership can and will provide guidance and support BUT we need each Defender to also be committed to a new culture; where connection and belonging matter, where despite your best efforts to handle a task alone, when you ask your wingman for support, they provide it without judgment. It is only in this way that we can be “Defender Strong!”

These focus areas are all critical to our success. We will see some successes and some challenges in this next year. We will learn from those challenges to do better next time and more importantly, we will celebrate each of you for the incredible commitment you show every day, proudly wearing the Blue Beret. It is my honor to serve you and I am extremely excited for what’s to come in this next year!

CSAF Charts Air Force Defender Way Forward in the Year of Integrate Base Defense

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Category: Guardmount/News

Published: 02 October 2019

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CSAF Charts Air Force Defender Way Forward in the Year of Integrate Base Defense
By Alex Delgado, 502 ABW Public Affairs / Published October 02, 2019

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein addresses Security Forces Defenders, past and present, at the 33rd Air Force Security Forces Association national meeting banquet in San Antonio 28 Sept 2019, in San Antonio, Texas.

Joint Base San Antonio, Texas - Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein discussed the Air Force’s transition from Year of the Defender to Year of Integrated Base Defense, focusing on how elite Defenders fit into a layered defensive network, in a speech at the 33rd National Meeting of the Air Force Security Forces Association in San Antonio Sept. 28.

Goldfein began by speaking about the beret worn by Air Force Defenders. “That beret represents those who are the best in the world at integrated base defense,” he said. “Elite Defenders…wearers of that beret guard our nation’s treasures and it is our sacred duty to protect them.”

Goldfein announced The Year of the Defender a year ago, “which led to the Reconstitute Defender Initiative,” he said.

But it was a serious security incident at Royal Air Field Mildenhall, England, where an individual was able to drive onto the flight line and ram into an aircraft before he was apprehended, that got the program moving.

“A challenge was turned into an opportunity,” said Goldfein. “We took a good hard look at ourselves in the mirror and determined that we had gone for way too many years without investing in our elite Defenders as a foundation of who we are as a globally engaged service.”

“So we re-focused on proficiency and small unit tactics,” he added. “We increased our investment in our Defenders with $180 million in new equipment just last year.”

RDI encompassed new training, new tactics, techniques and procedures, and a renewed expeditionary focus.

“We’ve made great progress, but we have miles to go,” said Goldfein. “And I will commit to you that we are not going to take our foot off the gas.”

Goldfein referenced the annual Wing Commander Conference he recently hosted, where he engaged with 280 warriors for two days talking about the business of warfighting and leadership.

There, Goldfein shared his vision where an Alpha Warrior Operational (physical) fitness program will be directly associated with the tough business of base defense, along with daily weapons marksmanship training. “I’m not talking about once or twice a year,” he said. “I’m talking about every day, because confidence in our primary weapons comes from repetition.”

Goldfein went on to say that building state of the art ranges at each base would be unattainable, but that there may be answers in being creative and expeditionary at home.

He referenced a shoot house built by the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron at Hulburt Field, Fla., which was built from steel and plywood for about $18,000, and is used daily with live rounds.

“We have got to get creative to get our Defenders more trigger time and work on proficiency and competence with their weapons,” said Goldfein. “And I don’t want you to wait for me to move out on this; as I told the wing commanders; I trust you, go long, I’ve got your back.”

Goldfein went on to emphasize the importance of his message. “We’ve got to be laser focused on combat proficiency because the threat is outside the wire right now as we sit here,” he said. “They are sizing us up, looking for weaknesses in our lines; what we want them to determine is that we are just too hard a target to penetrate.

“I want them to see the beret and know that they are up against the best and are doomed to fail,” he added.

“So we’re going to build on our progress from The Year of the Defender to focus on how elite Defenders fit into a layered defensive network,” he said. Our Defenders should be looking at the entire integrated base defense network that included sensors well beyond that fence line to get a sense of the operational environment.”

“Every Defender should be connected; A walking server, a node in a network that senses and shares data and communications at the speed of relevance against the threat.”

Goldfein went on to define what some current and future threats look like. “So now it’s time to prepare for the next attack that will likely include cyber operations, hybrid warfare, Special Forces and enemy drones.”

“It’s your creativity, your ingenuity, your innovations and your courage that are going to help us prepare for that fight,” he added.

“This is one thing I can look at each and every one of you in the eye tonight with absolute clarity, we have from this moment until that fight starts to get our forces ready,” he said. “And we should treat every week as the last week of peace, and an absolute blessing.”

Goldfein closed by addressing Defenders in the audience. “So to our Defender team here tonight past and present, and your justifiably proud families,” he said. “What an honor it is for me to be part of this special evening, I could not be prouder to serve with each of you as your chief when our country needs us most.”

Air Force Security Forces History Book Vol III

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Written by John W Probst

Category: Guardmount/News

Published: 14 August 2019

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AFSFA Publishes Security Forces History Book Volume III

Watch our YouTube  video -- https://youtu.be/fBVK_wjP2XY

Dear Air Police, Security Police, & Security Forces Members:

Due to the continued interest in the Air Force Security Forces history, the Air Force Security Forces Association and M.T.Publishing Company have joined forces to publish a third edition history book in 2020. This third edition will make a perfect companion book for the first two and will contain additional history about the Air Force Security Forces with a section for your stories while serving, as well as a chapter for your personal biography. If your biography was in one of the other editions and you would like it to be in this one, it will be necessary for you to resubmit it along with two photos if possible - one while in the service and a current photo. You may use the same photos that were in the previous editions. New deadline is 1 February 2020.

Your experience stories are encouraged for this third edition. These can be provided to the publisher free by simply writing an interesting story while serving as a AP, SP, or SF member in 500 words or less. You may also provide photos to go along with your article. All stories will be reviewed for content, possibly edited and published based on pages available for this chapter.

The volume will be:

• 9˝ x 12˝ Hardbound

• Min. 112 pages

• $84.00 (Leather Edition)

• $52.50 (Standard Edition)

Submitting Your Biography for the Volume III History Book ... by mail or electronically

Write your personal biography in 150 words or less, indicating your name, rank, place and date of birth, when inducted into the service, years served, duties, action while in the service, when discharged, awards/medals received, interesting stories as they relate to the Air Force Security Forces, family data, and what you are doing today. If you stay within the 150-word limit, it will cost nothing to participate. The cost for each word over the 150 limit is 15 cents. If your biography is over the limit, please remit a check for the extra words. Send your biography with two photos, if possible – one when you were in the service and a current photo. Do not send photocopies in place of photos, because they cannot be reproduced for use in the book. Biographies may be submitted without photographs. Please type your bio (double-spaced) on plain white paper or submit electronically in a text document. Do not embed photos into the text. Please send those separately. To ensure that all material is returned after publication, write your name, address and phone number on the back of all material submitted. Please send biographies and photos to M.T. Publishing Company, Inc., P.O. Box 6802, Evansville, IN 47719-6802.

You may also submit your biography on-line at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.   Any digital photos must be scanned at 300 dpi for submission. Low resolution photos cannot be used for the book. If you have questions about scanning or submitting digital files, please contact us at 210-277-0448. In submitting photos, please include a caption on the back of the photo with the date and an explanation of who or what is depicted.  A book order is not required to submit material for possible inclusion in the publication.

See your latest AFSFA Security Forces Magazine for the order form.