TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. (AFMCNS) -- With the 72nd Security Forces Squadron tasked to provide up to 65 Airmen for an indefinite six-month security rotation to Camp Bucca, Iraq, concerns over manpower are at an all-time high. 

To help with the shortage, Tinker Air Force Base has devised a plan to take Airmen from other career fields and train them to fill security forces roles. 

Lt. Col. Joe Hogan, acting 72nd SFS commander, said 48 augmentees have already joined his unit in the past three weeks and more are receiving training at the First Term Airman's Center that will give the squadron a pool of qualified candidates. 

"These augmentees will receive all the equipment and initial training and will be performing duties side-by-side along with our security forces guys," he said. "The reason [this is necessary] is because we have so many troops deployed right now.
"In the past, most of our defenders would deploy and provide air base security by manning a guard tower," said the colonel. "Now, we're going several thousand meters outside the wire. It's just a new way of life and anybody can get tasked to perform those roles." 

Colonel Hogan said that's one reason why his squadron has begun offering Expeditionary Combat Skills Training to all Airmen on base. 

"Chances are when Airmen deploy they're going to be in a convoy, so they better know what to do," he said. "They're in a combat zone and getting combat pay, so they better have some skills." 

The augmentees all receive about a week's worth of training in basic security forces duties to include communications, guard mount procedures, security forces forms, security reporting and alerting, individual challenge techniques, use of force and installation challenge techniques. 

The Airmen also receive training in blood-borne pathogens, military authority and jurisdiction, restricted area circulation and control procedures, force protection conditions, security forces tactics, searching and the Bucca mission, Colonel Hogan said.

"We know it's a hardship on them because it takes them out of their career field for a while, but base security is everybody's business," said the colonel. 

Airman 1st Class Hector Ortiz, an augmentee from the 752nd Communications Squadron, said he is sold on the additional training requirement and looks forward to the opportunity to protect the base and his fellow Airmen.
 
"The training has been good," he said. "It feels good... protecting the base and keeping your fellow wingmen safe." 

Colonel Hogan said he will continue to use augmentees until his security teams return from Camp Bucca sometime this spring.