German SWAT team conducts training on Ramstein

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Trevor Rhynes
  • 86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany --  Members of the German air force got the opportunity to train on a C-17 Globemaster III, here, Aug. 1.

German troops used the chance to practice security measures, including hostage recovery, nuclear surety and other techniques to ensure preparation in case of an attack on an aircraft.

"We are here to practice these techniques because the aircraft assigned to our base are gone a lot," said German 1st. Lt. Sebastian Sutorius, German air force operations officer. "We work with U.S. troops a lot so we're glad to be here doing some training on the C-17."

"It's important for us to open our gates and do this because we've got to get used to working with our partners," Tech. Sgt. Michael Rey said, wing gatekeeper with the wing XP office. "Germany being one of them and being our host nation we've got to be able to work beside them."

When it comes to working with host nation personnel, coordination is no issue for something like this.

"We're hosting a German SWAT team in the German Bundeswehr, in coordination with the 521st Air Mobility Operations Wing," said Rey . "We worked with the 521st AMOW to ensure we could use an aircraft during some downtime."

Other agencies, like security forces were involved in making sure this training was possible.

"Security Forces did a great job making sure that all of this tactical equipment was able to come on base, that all the security procedures were being followed," Rey said. "They made sure that the German team was able to train using our assets."