Air Guard Instructor Uses Marine Experience
(July 13, 2010) |
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Tech. Sgt. David Butler served 12 years in the Marine Corps before becoming an instructor for the Texas Air National Guard's Desert Defender Air Force Regional Training Center in El Paso, Texas. |
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EL PASO, Texas (7/9/2010 - AFNS) -- Tech. Sgt. David Butler is a former Marine
who's now serving here as an instructor with the Texas Air National Guard.
"I absolutely love my job down here and the guys I work with," Sergeant Butler
said about serving with the 204th Security Forces Squadron, which operates the
Desert Defender Air Force Regional Training Center.
Sergeant Butler joined the Air Guard after serving 12 years in the Marine Corps
and two years with Air Force Reserve Command, which brought him to the Texas
Guard on a temporary duty assignment.
Sergeant Butler is putting the combat knowledge he gained through his Marine |
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Corps service to use by preparing active duty, Air Guard, and Air
Force Reserve Command security forces Airmen for area security
operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Their training includes mounted
operations on armored vehicles, dismounted patrols,
counterinsurgency operations, and sniper and countersniper
operations. |
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Sergeant Butler provides his students with some Marine
Corps-style confidence-building during their nearly 50 days
of intense training.
"I tell them up front, 'I'm going to push you to your
limits, as far as I can possibly push you,' and that's what
we do," he said. "Coming out of here, they learn a valuable
lesson, whether it's how much they can stand, or who can
stand the heat and who needs to be trained a little bit
more."
The Guard is well known for its Soldiers and Airmen who
bring civilian expertise as well as prior-service knowledge
to a mission.
The real-life experiences of all the Guard instructors help
in developing scenarios that show students what they will
encounter when they're deployed, Sergeant Butler said.
"We put our heads together and based off of that and what
the (Air Force) Security Forces Center requires us to teach,
(we) roll that all into one training package," he said.
Sergeant Butler works with 39 other instructors, including
other Marine Corps and Army combat veterans, former police
officers and other experienced guardsmen.
"The drive, the desire to do good and teach these deploying
defenders is in every single one of the cadre," said Lt.
Col. Carl Alvarez, the squadron and training center
commander. "We all give 110 percent every day to these
students."
Colonel Alverez said experience "outside the wire" in the
combat theater is an important element the instructors bring
to the table.
"The cadre (members have) fired their weapons in theater,"
he said. "They have seen it, they have done it, and that is
what we are best suited to (teach)." |
By USAF MSgt. Mike R. Smith
National Guard Bureau
Copyright 2010 |
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Reprinted from
Air Force News
Service
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