Dobbins Air Force Base, Ga. -- After a grueling two weeks of training, Airman with the 932nd Mission Support Group, conclude firefighter contingency training with Silver Flag credit, March 18, 2021 at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Ga.
The two week training, led by Air Force Reserve Command, is designed to fulfill the forty month requirement and strengthen the firefighters skills and abilities to work together as a team.
“So the training culminates in a two-day exercise where the attendees have to perform the setup of a bare base and during that they have about 18 tasks that they are responsible for completing which include everything from setting up a tent to pulling victims up a steep hill and extinguishing airplane and structural fires,” said MSgt. Christopher Gallegos, Firefighter Contingency Training Cadre.
The training offered 932nd reserve firefighters a chance to build relationships with one another, understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and use new equipment and learn new techniques.
Senior Airman Jace Cadet, 932nd firefighter, said “My biggest take away was being able to use all of the trucks and having experience knowing their capabilities and what they discharge.”
During the final two days of the training, the 932nd firefighters came together to put everything the learned over the two week course to test. On the first day the firefighters began the day simulating their departure and arrival at a deployment location, they set up a tent, filled the water truck, and soon after they faced a car fire and a helicopter crash. Day two kicked off with multiple structural fires, a steep hill rescue, and ending the day with a large aircraft cargo fire.
“A big part of firefighter training is finding where your shortfalls are and especially in a reserve capacity where a lot of folks who attend are going to be firefighters on the outside. So even if they have a lot of experience doing it, their coming together with people who are from other places and have very different experiences and the expectations of each other don’t match up, so they find that even though they're all really experienced they don't work together as a team until basically the end of the training,” said Gallegos.
The new two week long training came with its challenges and potential setbacks, but the Cadre team came through and successfully trained the 932nd attendees.
Master Sergeant Christopher Gains, 932nd Fire and emergency flight, explained prior to completing this training at Dobbins, reservist would have to apply for an active duty training slot. Gallegos and his team constructed and worked to the course validated so that it would have silver flag credit, and make attending this training easier for all reservist.