Jack 'Em Up!

Defense Force Protection: We spent this day with the Security Forces (the people you see when you want to get on base). We learned procedures for when unknown people approach an entrance. If they don't know the password, they are about to have a really bad day.

STORY: The female Tech Sergeant instructing

us told a story about a time a well endowed female Major wanted to come on base. They had to search her. Our Tech Sergeant quickly checked her for concealed weapons & avoided her chest area because it made her uncomfortable. When she finished checking she turned her back to the Major. The Major pulled out a pair of sharp scissors from her chest and held them to the Sergeant's throat. "You just cost the lives of your entire team." Our sergeant learned a very important lesson that day. It doesn't matter why or how inconvenient it is for the person getting searched, "they shouldn't have been there, and now they are going to have a really bad day."

The Security Forces personnel are just one group of the military that put their lives on the line every day.

Our Sergeant liked to say "now you get to jack 'em up!" (Security Forces people are crazy like that- don't mess with them). Once a person fails the screening process we forcefully tell them to get down on the ground. Your buddy points the gun at the person, while you advance to bind him.

Once they are bound you look for concealed weapons, etc... You do this by taking a small piece of their clothes, grab it, and twist. You do this over the whole body front & back. There is even a clever way to check the pockets without "violating" them.

Overall this was a fun day, later we searched vehicles for weapons/bombs, and set up a defensive position using sandbags. The sandbags aren't as much protection as they look, but it's better than nothing.