'DEFENSOR FORTIS'

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Joe Davidson
  • 452nd Air Mobility Wing, Public Affairs
MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, CALIF. --  You've stepped over that red line and a Security Forces Specialist on patrol in the Restricted Area has told you to halt and spread your arms and legs. You've just committed a security violation and been caught by a member of the 452nd Security Forces Squadron. It's part of their job and they carry out this responsibility with duty-bound vigilance. 

The primary mission of the 452nd Security Forces Squadron is to provide force protection, to help ensure operational readiness and to protect warfighting resources. This mission is accomplished through a system of base and area entry control points, vehicle and foot patrols and sensor detection equipment. 

Day-to-day security force  functions are structured similarly to Army "S" functions; S-1 is Command Support Staff, S-2, Intelligence, S-3, Operations, which contains the flight elements of the squadron, S-4, Supply and Combat Arms and S-5, Administration. Senior members of the squadron patrol areas of the flight line, base perimeter and areas outside the wall, including the base entry gates. Members from other squadrons periodically assist Security Forces as augmentees. Flights are in days, swings and mid-shift arrangement with each each shift lasting for about nine hours. 

During normal operations just before shift change, the oncoming flight chiefs, desk sergeants and armorers routinely are at work early to get pass-ons, conduct equipment checks and accomplish weapons inventories with their off-going counterparts.

To ensure the members of the flight are physically and mentally fit to perform their duties while on shift and to protect those assets, members of each flight hold "Guardmount." Here, the oncoming Flight Chief provides members of his flight with information useful to them while they perform their duties and other issues requiring special attention. 

"For the most part, it's pretty quiet throughout the day," said Tech Sgt. Joseph LaRochelle, day shift flight chief. "But we stay busy though because there are a lot of requirements we have to meet - checks on personnel and buildings that need to be conducted that are mandatory. In addition, the people who work for me are great. They will do anything I ask." 

The 452nd Security Forces Squadron takes pride in what they do. Tech Sgt. Tacho Benavidez, a Marine turned Air Force reservist, patrols the mass parking areas at March watching the activity on the flight line. 

"I'm a former cook in the Marine Corps," said Benavidez. "You'll find that a lot of us out here come from very different backgrounds, but we all still have the same sense of duty." 

This sense of duty goes beyond maintaining watch over vital assets critical to the mission of the 452nd Air Mobility Wing. The squadron takes advantage of talents that squadron members possess from former specialties. 

When he joined the Air Force Reserve, Staff Sgt. Gareth Gregson, a British Naturalized American citizen with prior active-duty experience as a security policeman, worked in the civil engineering squadron. 

When a position opened up in Security Forces, he exchanged a fatigue cap for a blue beret. 

"I love it, I really do love it. That's the reason I came back," said Staff Sgt. Gregson. "I missed the career field so much. I felt this constant nagging and I was moving up in CE but wasn't getting what I wanted there. I got lucky when a position opened up in Security Forces so I moved over laterally." 

Security Forces are identified as the ground forces that are responsible for protecting the Air Force's vital mission assets. They provide the "military police" function within the U.S. Air Force. 

Being a member of this elite career field carries with it the responsibility to uphold a long legacy of duty and valor. 

"The men and women of the 452nd Security Forces Squadron are a fine group of men and women who we are very proud of," said Lt. Col. Cary Connors, squadron commander. "They do an exceptional job protecting the vital assets under their charge. "Whether it's here at March or deployed to some distant outpost in the AOR, they can be counted on to always be defenders of the force."