Combat Skills Training Prepares Airmen

JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- Chief Master Sgt. Jerry Quinn, a member with the Alaska Air National Guard’s 144th Airlift Squadron, practices self aid buddy care at a training event here Jan. 10, 2014. Members of the squadron’s parent unit, the 176th Wing, were undergoing the training in preparation for an upcoming inspection. National Guard photo by Tech. Sgt. Jennifer Theulen

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Combat Skills Training Prepares Airmen

JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- Senior Airman Whitney Lowell, a security forces fire team member with the Alaska Air National Guard’s 176th Security Forces Squadron, explains weapons-clearing and handling procedures at a training event here Jan. 10, 2014. Members of the squadron’s parent unit, the 176th Wing, were undergoing the training in preparation for an upcoming inspection. National Guard photo by Tech. Sgt. Jennifer Theulen

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Combat Skills Training Prepares Airmen

JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- Senior Airman Justin Haken, an emergency management specialist with the Alaska Air National Guard’s 176th Civil Engineer Squadron, instructs fellow 176th Wing Airmen on proper gas mask handling procedures here Jan. 10, 2014. This type of combat skills training helps Guard members prepare to respond to potential chemical weapons attacks. National Guard photo by Tech. Sgt. Jennifer Theulen

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Combat Skills Training Prepares Airmen

Published Jan. 12, 2014
By Tech. Sgt. Jennifer Theulen
176th Wing Public Affairs

JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- Alaska Air National Guard members from the 176th Wing participated in a three-day Wing Combat Skills Training here Jan. 10, 2014.

Wing Combat Skills Training is a training event in which airmen rotate between seven training stations, all dealing with issues relating to responding to an enemy attack -- from weapons handling and emergency medical treatment to chemical-attack procedures. The training is designed to refresh the trainees' combat skills in the event of a threat or deployment to a high-risk environment

The event was held in JBER's hangar one to accommodate more than one thousand 176th Wing members.

"We want to make sure that members are keeping fresh on their skills, and this venue provides a great way to accomplish this for a group this size," said Lt. Col. Thomas A. Bolin, the 176th Wing's director of inspections.

Bolin said, "We hope that this exercise helps our members refamiliarize with their equipment to protect themselves if ever faced with an attack, and the biggest part of it is self-aid buddy care. If one of our fellow Airmen were injured, we want to ensure that as a force, we are prepared to help one another."