Defender Nation,

Thank you to the Defenders in the field who made significant progress for the Enterprise and focused on our primary mission of Air Base Ground Defense (ABGD). This will help ensure the safety and protection of our Airmen and Guardians, their families, and warfighting capabilities domestically and overseas.

The Total Force Enterprise is focused on the CSAF DEFNEXT32 Report.  The primary objective of the report is ensuring necessary changes are made to the Enterprise’s doctrine, policy, and guidance. Adjustments to foundational, sustainment, and deployment trainings will meet current and future Agile Combat Employment requirements.  We updated the foundational Basic Officers, Apprentice (now known as the Basic Defender Course), Combat Leaders, and Integrated Defense Command & Control Courses; they will be onboarded this year. Together, these courses will help ensure the right level of foundational investment in ABGD across the Total Force.

The Enterprise’s second priority area is investing in Law Enforcement (LE) expertise. In late CY21, the first class of Credentialed Law Enforcement officers graduated, and the career field established a LE Special Experience Identifier, to meet DoD Peace Officer & Standards Training (POST) requirements. Today, more than 230 Defenders completed the DoD POST Course and possess a numbered credential. The goal is to credential approximately 7.6K of the 43K Total Force Defenders. My team is also working to ensure that Civilians who completed comparative trainings can be credentialed this year.

The third priority area is Weapons and Tactics. The Instructor Course is at Initial Operating Capability. More than 240 Defenders completed the rigorous 12-week course. The impact from this course is immense; they provide critical mission analysis in the field to our command teams to adjust relevant tactics, techniques and procedures quickly at the operational level, ensuring faster employment of effects-based security.

The fourth priority area is investing in the Human Weapon System. We fielded new weapons, improved capability, and equipment over the past three years, which helped make the Total Force more agile and ready. In fact, all fielding is programmed and on track. I like to think of this as “Defender Now,” as we provide more support to Defenders and their families. As part of this effort, we are working with the Mental Health and Chaplains professionals, fielding the new Operational Fitness Test, and furthering the Female Defender Initiative to improve recruitment, retention and progression. 

We are tracking each of the key initiatives in two plans - the Security Forces Enterprise Plan and DEFNEXT32. We are on track for many of the initiatives. I am confident these initiatives will immediately help the Enterprise. I appreciate every Defender who stepped up to own some of these solutions. I look forward to closing out this year with the same speed and tenacity as we have approached every challenge with over the last three years.

Proud To Be Defender Nation!
VR – Defender Collins