Security Forces Airmen Schooled at Local High School

One of the key roles of the 175th Security Forces Squadron, Maryland Air National Guard, is to provide support to state civil defense authorities within domestic environments. As a law enforcement unit stationed at Warfield Air National Guard Base, located in Middle River, Maryland, the 175th SFS. prepares to respond to active shooter situations and often trains with a variety of weapons training.

During most of 2020, Havre de Grace High School was temporarily shut down to comply with COVID-19 restrictions, and continued to be closed to the public. The 175th SFS’s ongoing partnership and close ties with the Havre de Grace community allowed them to take advantage of the site’s availability for their training.

Master Sgt. Rene Noboa, a member of the 175th SFS, has worked as both a military police instructor in the Army and as a security forces instructor in the Air Force, and also works with the Metro Transit Police Department of the District of Columbia. He served as an instructor in the day’s training.

“When we look at those things, we want to make sure that we have all the abilities, capabilities, and assets available to us that we [can] utilize,” Noboa said regarding the squadron’s ability to operate regardless of setting. “It allows us to train better than an occupied area on [base]. So it gives us some more freedom to do different things.”

Drawing upon his personal experience in both military branches, Noboa said the Army’s military police and the Air Force’s security forces differed in certain aspects like their combat capabilities. But according to him, “both work to ensure the safety of their personnel, assets, and infrastructure by training hard, often, and realistically.” 

Staff Sgt. Edmond Baghdassarian is a six-year member of the 175th SFS and has worked in diplomatic security for the state department, where he guarded the President’s Guest House in Washington D.C. and other prestigious sites. Despite his experience, he still greatly appreciated the training he received.

“[In a] high school, that gives you all the unknowns as far as [walking through] many rooms: big rooms, small rooms [… and more areas where] an active shooter could be hiding,” Baghdassarian said. “So it mentally prepares you much better than doing it in a [the usual military base exercises like the] shoot house [where you’re doing] the same thing over and over again.”

Baghdassarian said one of the most important lessons he learned was “I think just [learning] to work as a team […] You need to be on the same page with whoever your partner is. Sometimes there’s no partners, but [in] in the majority of the team, that’s what we trained for.”

Watch a video of the day’s training at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIOoHmrjxIY

While the 175th SFS were able to enhance their offensive capabilities as first responders to active shooter scenarios, unarmed service members and civilians should also know how they can respond to active shooter situations.

The official active-shooter strategies used across the U.S. Armed Forces are to evacuate, hide, and take actions. The first strategy to use is to run and hide from active shooters, which includes identifying possible exit routes ahead of time. Once you are away from direct line of sight from the shooter, the next strategy is to lock doors and hide in appropriate areas, barricading the door when possible. If you are too close to the shooter or the first two strategies cannot be used, you should try to engage the shooter only as a last resort according to your defense capabilities.

More information on these active-shooter personal defense strategies can be accessed through the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s online resources: https://www.fbi.gov/about/partnerships/office-of-partner-engagement/active-shooter-resources