CRS class prepares 3rd Herd for deployment

Published April 10, 2009
By Brandice J. Armstrong
Tinker Public Affairs

TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla., -- It was the morning after a thunderstorm and before the sun rose. Outside the complex, cars rushed on city streets illuminated by streetlamps and headlights. But at Glenwood Training Annex, just north of Tinker Air Force Base off of Southeast 29th Street, the scene was deceptively serene. No outside lights lit the saturated landscape. Few people or vehicles were in sight, but, nearly 45 Airmen sat inside one of the classroom buildings.

Wearing desert battle-dress uniforms and armed with M-16A2 rifles, it was the second day of Combat Readiness School. Hosted by the 3rd Combat Communications Group, the 15-day class is offered six times a year and teaches Airmen how to fight in combat, handle a deployment in the worst of scenarios and survive in a bare-base environment. The school is reputed to be long, physically and mentally stressful and is taught in the most realistic conditions possible.

"I'm very passionate about this program," said Master Sgt. Larry Shenold, CRS chief of Academics. "The 3rd Herd is doing a top-notch, ground combination of skills training to mold Airmen into effective warfighters. We do not do anything unless it has a training purpose."

Airmen newly assigned to the 3rd Herd and those who will soon deploy typically take the course. The school's curriculum is based on the Air Force Handbook 31-302: Air Base Defense Collective Skills. Within the handbook, instructors focus on skills mainly identified in the Soldier's Manual of Common Tasks, Doctrine for Joint Rear Area Operations; and Joint Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures for Base Defense.

During the course, Airmen are taught to work as a team and fight as a team. They are taught skills including hand to hand fighting, tactical movements, land navigation, urban defense and battle drills, and field hygiene. After 10 days of instruction and practice, the Airmen test their skills in a field training exercise.

"The field-training exercise is 72 hours of little sleep, high operation tempo, and multiple scenarios happening at once," Sergeant Shenold said. "It's about the team and the skills learned."

Robert Tye, Deputy of Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office, who with Sergeant Shenold, taught the unexploded ordinance and improvised explosive device recognition and defeat course, said the school is worthwhile and will benefit its students.

"With everything that's going on overseas the main threat is IEDs," he said. "This class gives awareness and will help them when they get deployed."

Airman 1st Class Erik McCown, a new addition to the 34th Combat Communications Squadron, said he'd heard the reputation of the class and was warned not to make anyone angry or he'd be doing a lot of push-ups, but as of the second day of training, he enjoyed the class.

1st Lt. Josh Stockham, of the 38th Engineering Installation Group, agreed. "I love it," he said. "This is what I expect deployment to be like."

Lieutenant Stockham said he enrolled in CRS after a fellow Airman told him about the program. Though he's deployed before and said his experiences were vastly different than what the course instructors described, he wanted to participate because he could be put at the front lines. The lieutenant said the 38th EIG deploys every six months. He returned from a deployment to Qatar in early March.

Sergeant Shenold said there are only three CRS programs in the Air Force. The others are hosted by the 5th CCG at Warner Robins AFB, Ga., and the 1st Combat Communications Squadron at Ramstein Air Base, Germany.