From blue to green and back; PRT Captain shares his experience

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Lauren Wright
  • 28th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
ELLSWORTH AFB, S.D. --  Up until a few years ago, when an Airman joined the Air Force he expected to deploy doing his Air Force job. In today's Air Force, more and more Airmen are deploying "green."

Ellsworth's Capt. Kenneth McGinnis recently returned from serving with the Army civil affairs provincial reconstruction team.

During his four-month deployment in Afghanistan, the 28th Civil Engineer Squadron readiness flight chief acted as a mediator between the local government and contractors on construction projects and was ambushed on one of his surveys.

"I still don't believe it really happened," the captain said. "I don't believe I was really shooting or that people were shooting at me; it was surreal."

He and the five-vehicle, 20-plus-man convoy experienced gunfire in the dark, outside the wire, in the middle of nowhere. It was a deviation from the day's plans.

They were supposed to conduct three separate surveys, but spent three hours that day trying to get a vehicle with a broken axle off a mountain. In the process, nightfall came and it was time to return.

"It's part of the rules of engagement out there to get in before night, because we know we are more vulnerable, and that adversaries are more likely to attack at night," he said.

On the way back to camp, a rocket propelled grenade hit a vehicle in the convoy. The ambush had begun.

Enemy fire disabled a second vehicle. In an effort to get everyone back to camp quickly, members of the convoy helped remove people from inoperable vehicles. Others used suppressive fire to maintain safety and another group worked to unhook a Humvee from the vehicle that had broken it's axle on the mountain. Four people were injured, two seriously injured in the attack.

The ambush lasted 30 minutes and included several Army National Guard Soldiers and four Airmen, each with a different function, but the captain said they all responded superbly.

"They responded the way we were trained...it's another reason why I think we survived," said the captain.

Like many Airmen supporting Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, the duties they perform while deployed are outside their normal Air Force specialties.

Commonly referred to as "in-lieu-of" taskings, Airmen, Sailors, Soldiers and Marines from a cross-section of all military specialties are performing nontraditional missions to provide temporary augmentation.

The 28th Civil Engineer Squadron realizes that CE troops will be tasked for Army slots, he said. "We do combat survival training at least twice a week (in garrison). Because of that, when I went there, it was natural."

In addition to the bi-weekly training, Captain McGinnis went to a six-week course at Fort Bragg, N.C. The course enhanced his weapons proficiency, expanded his self-aid and combat buddy care, and reviewed land navigation, in addition to teaching other skills.

ILO training is designed to develop a population of Airmen who are combat-ready and able to fulfill duties outside their normal Air Force specialty. Before deploying, Airmen tasked to augment certain Army missions receive combat skills training at one of 14 Army training locations now designated as Power Projection Platforms. Those include: Camp Shelby, Miss.; Fort Hood and Fort Bliss, Texas; Fort Sill, Okla.; White Sands, N.M.; Fort Riley, Kan.; Fort Lewis, Wash.; Fort McCoy, Wis.; Camp Atterbury, Ind.; Fort Dix, N.J.; Aberdeen, Md.; Fort Monroe, Va.; Fort Bragg, N.C.; and Fort Benning, Ga.

The goal of in-lieu-of training is to prepare Airmen for nontraditional combat environments in support of the combatant commanders' requirements where Airmen are deployed to assist Army personnel.

"We developed this training out of what is commonly called 'theater immersion,' which is a philosophy of take the Soldier, take the Sailor, take the Airman, and train him or her to fight in the same conditions and same missions as they would expect to see in-theater," said Army Col. John Hadjis, commander of 3rd Brigade, 87th Division Training Support, at Camp Shelby, Miss., an in-lieu-of training site similar to what Captain McGinnis attended at Fort Bragg.

Captain McGinnis said the realistic training is effective.

"We train in scenarios like these with sound effects," he said. "The ambush almost seemed like a training scenario; everyone knew what to do."

Training builds unit cohesion, contributes to uniformity of training and qualifies Airmen as a combat Air Force troop. It also prepares Airmen for circumstances they might face in the deployed location.

"My main conclusion from the deployment is that I want people to understand they can't say, 'this isn't my job'; you have to be multi-talented and flexible," said the captain.

81st Training Wing Public Affairs contributed to this article.