Top cop visits Misawa, discusses future of career field

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  • By Staff Sgt. Rachel Martinez
  • 35th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan --  The top cop in the Air Force recently made her first visit to Misawa Air Base where she talked with Airmen about the future of the security forces career field.

Brig. Gen. Mary Kay Hertog, Director of Security Forces, discussed hot topics such as deployments and training.

"I think it is very important that the Airmen hear what's going on in security forces and how we're trying to work a lot of these issues from me as the top cop," said General Hertog. "Really, I come out mainly to thank them for what they are doing deployed and what they are doing home station. I don't ever want to miss that opportunity."

General Hertog and Chief Master Sgt. Bruce Broder, the security forces career field manager, are making an effort to visit as many locations as they can. In the case of Misawa, this is the first time the top cop has visit in the last 10 years.

"We like to go out in their environment, out on their posts, one-on-one, and talk to them," the general said. "Many times they may not want to ask a question in a large group like at guardmount or all-call. When we get them off to the side and ask them -- what's bothering you? What can we do for you? -- that's when they give us a lot of honest feedback."

Much of the feedback from security forces Airmen has been on deployments and training. General Hertog took the time to specifically address these two issues.

"We are very expeditionary and I predict we are going to stay that way," she said. "The good news is that we are reducing our in-lieu-of taskings. We are getting out of detainee ops. I don't consider that one of our core competencies so we're doing other things and taking on other missions."

Currently, there are 4,200 to 4,300 security forces Airmen deployed to 62 different locations, a majority of those in the CENTCOM Area of Responsibility. These Airmen are performing such missions as convoy ops, detainee ops, SECFOR missions, force protection and participating in police transition teams.

"We are contributing to building a new Iraq. We are training them to be police - military and civilian police officers," General Hertog said. "We're contributing to Afghanistan in the same way. We've been providing security in our provincial reconstruction teams. We are doing an awful lot. Our Airmen - I'm in awe of what they've been doing. They're tremendous and they make me very proud."

General Hertog also addressed the training, much of which is required for different deployments.

"It's improved in quality and quantity. We change our training constantly," said General Hertog. "We try to find out what's going on in the theater, what are the new tactics, techniques and procedures, and we adjust our training accordingly."

Training has improved in quantity by actually reducing the amount of training required in some cases. Prior to Airmen deploying, a team sits down and discusses what core competencies are required for the mission and what competencies the security forces Airmen already have. In one case, this process has reduced a training course from 60 days down to 40 days.

"You don't need to start from day one with the training because we are already coming in with these core competencies," General Hertog said. "We'll continue to do that in order to make sure our Airmen are getting the right kind of training."

One added benefit of reduced training time is more time spent at home station.

"We don't want our Airmen gone for one day more than they have to be gone from their homes and their families," the general said.

The minimum deployment length in the security forces career field is 179 days. When training is attached to this, Airmen can be gone for up to eight months. For those Airmen going on a 365-day deployment they are often gone from their families for 14 months when training is added in.

"I can only say thank you so much to the family members who hold down the fort, take care of the kids, and put up with the day to day stress of knowing that their loved one is deployed and in great danger," said General Hertog. "All I want to say is things are getting better. We're hoping to keep security forces members home a little longer than what they've enjoyed in the past."

In the past few years security forces has been in a one to one dwell meaning that for each day spent in the theater deployed, they were spending one day at home. The career field is slowly working up to a one to two dwell. The increase in the dwell is due to efforts in increasing the deployment pool of available people and getting out of detainee ops.

"I'm in awe of the family members and what they have managed to tolerate as we have been in this kind of dwell for the last four to five years. This is not new to us," General Hertog said. "I'm in awe of what our Airmen have done - and when I say Airmen, I'm talking about our senior NCOs and officers too. We've asked them to do so much and they have carried through and done it all."

During a director's call where General Hertog addressed these issues, she also presented the Bronze Star to two security forces Airmen. Capt. Jeffery Day and Master Sgt. Keith Elston were awarded the Bronze Star for their actions while deployed supporting detainee ops at Camp Bucca, Iraq.

"I'm so impressed by the folks that I have met - not just security forces, but all of our Airmen," said General Hertog. "We ask them to do so much and they never let us down."