Security Forces members complete deployment tour

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Dillon White
  • 341st Missile Wing Public Affairs Office
MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. --  Thirteen Members of the 741st Missile Security Forces Squadron returned from a six-month deployment to Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, Sept. 23. 

Each morning at 4:45 a.m., the Airmen rallied and rode to the entry control point located near Highway 4 in Humvees or a bus, and had a breakfast of hashbrowns and pancakes. 

Their days were long and the proximity of a water treatment plant upwind from the base made them longer, the Airmen said. 

The ECP was surrounded by dirt berms and punctuated by two open-air wooden towers about 20 feet high roofed with tarpaulin and a defensive fighting position, said Airman Nicholas Hickman, 741st MSFS member. Servicemembers manning the towers provided security for guards inspecting more than 70 vehicles and 800 personnel at the gate per day. 

"It would be 120 to 130 degrees during the day, and it reached 140 degrees in July. We could smell the water treatment plant the whole time we were there," Airman Hickman said. 

In addition to searing heat, the Airmen experienced large dust storms. 

"The dust storms were crazy. They looked exactly like the ones out of [the film "The Mummy"]. They looked like a giant wall coming toward you," said Airman 1st Class Brandon Potts. 

Other challenges the Airmen faced were cultural barriers. The Airmen performed duties alongside servicemembers and civilian workers from Bulgaria, Canada, Great Britain and Afghanistan to name a few. 

"The language barrier was the largest obstacle," Airman Potts said. "I learned some phrases in Pushtu, [the national language of Afghanistan] while I was there so I could say things while searching people coming on base such as 'please lift your shirt' or 'please take off your sandals.'" 

During their deployment, the base was also attacked by rockets 26 times with some of those attacks occurring during performances by celebrity entertainers such as Dave Attell and Toby Keith. 

"We escorted the celebrities when they arrived and they signed autographs," Airman Hickman said. "Rocket attacks happened during every performance, but most of [the performers] continued the shows even after attacks." 

When the Airmen were not working their three-days on and one-day off rotation, they studied, went to the gym, played video games and ran sections of the base perimeter for physical training. 

It wasn't all fun and games during their downtime though. Some of the Airmen also completed professional military education. 

Three of the 741st MSFS Airmen completed Career Development Courses while deployed and Airman 1st Class Travis Richards, successfully completed training on the Mobile Vehicle and Cargo Inspection System, a truck-mounted system which uses non-intrusive gamma radiation to search vehicles and cargo while at Kandahar Air Base. 

Airman Richards implemented this training, searching incoming supplies and vehicles for contraband and possible improvised explosive devices, with the MVACIS, he said. 

Despite austere conditions, the 741st MSFS Airmen made the most of their situation and several of them said they are looking forward to returning. 

They did great for their first deployment," said Tech. Sgt. Douglas Wrobel, 741st MSFS flight chief. "Malmstrom Airmen were leading the pack by getting along well, showing strong team work and good attitudes. They were like brothers from the day they left to the day they got back."