WESTOVER AIR RESERVE BASE, Mass. --
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first of a four-part series on deployment readiness topics. By next spring, hundreds of Patriot Wing Airmen are scheduled to deploy to worldwide locations.
"Fingers off the triggers, muzzles pointed downrange!" a voice bellowed through a public address system.
It’s the voice of MSgt. Jeffrey Otis, combat arms noncommissioned officer in charge.
"All right. Go ahead and release your bolts and load that second magazine."
Security forces Airmen recently headed to the small arms training range to re-qualify on M-9 pistols and M-4 rifles – while being the first Patriot Wing members to use the newly-renovated range.
"Is the line safe?" MSgt. Otis asked.
His instructors motioned with their hands to confirm.
"The line is safe!"
Everything is safe at the range – from settings on the weapons to the yellow lines marking the firing line.
Another barrage of firing reverberated through the range. Its new look includes more than $220,000 worth of new baffles, beams, and target posts.
More than 40 years old, the firing range annually hosts between 800 and 900 Airmen.
The timing couldn’t have been better for MSgt. Otis and his staff of four reservists in the combat arms training section.
Dozens more will make the trip out to Training Avenue as the new year quickly approaches.
The combat arms staff crouched over the SFS Airmen during the Sept. 8 training. With their red hats and laser-focused attention, the CATM Airmen monitored such fundamentals as breathing correctly, trigger control, and proper weapons handling.
The fundamentals taught to the SFS Airmen are the same as those taught to all Airmen who visit the range for their just-in-time training, said SSgt. Walter Varey, a reservist and CATM instructor.
And firing isn’t just about loading it up and aiming at the target. It starts with handling the weapon properly.
"It could save your life," SSgt. Varey said, as he gestured toward an Airman loading a M-9 magazine. "Knowing how to work a weapon is essential."
SSgt. Varey is not only experienced with weapons safety in the military -- in his civilian life, he’s a police officer in Lowell, Mass.
"It makes for a long work cycle," SSgt. Varey said, talking about how he manages his full-time and part-time jobs.
SSgt. Josh Alvarez, another CATM instructor, singlehandedly ran an armory for six months at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, one of the largest overseas American installations.
"We (SFS) shoot twice per year," SSgt. Alvarez said. "Deployers will get the same training as we go over proper stances like supported, unsupported, and prone. We train them on the basics of sight picture and sight alignment too."
CATM instructors remind Airmen -- even those with prior weapons experience -- to take the training seriously.
"When you’re armed with this piece of equipment every day, it’s important to make sure it works," said MSgt. Otis. "Airmen need to have a mindset coming into this training. They need to pay attention. Our classes run through the morning where we teach the fundamentals. Then we head to the range in the afternoon."
Following the shooting, the trainees cleaned their weapons back at the security forces building. The most common weapons include the M-9 pistol, and the M-4 and the M-16 rifles.
With changing threats across the globe, Air Force deployment guidance, which is funneled to Westover from the reserve’s Force Generation Center at Air Force Reserve Command headquarters, calls for specific requirements. A deploying Airman’s first two crucial links are through supervisors and the unit deployment managers.
With weapons training, Airmen must attain specific scores before they board their overseas flights, MSgt. Otis said. To qualify, they must hit their targets in 17 out of 24 attempts.
But it starts with remembering the basics of firing a weapon.
"It’s a smooth, steady trigger squeeze," SSgt. Varey emphasized. "It could be the whole base depending on you to use it correctly."