569th USFPS, German SWAT renew old bonds

  • Published
  • By Capt. John Ross
  • 86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany --  For the first time in recent memory, representatives from the Rheinland Palatinate SWAT team visited the 569th U.S. Forces Police Squadron at Kapaun Air Station Feb. 19.

Herr Horst Mehlinger, director of training for the Rheinlandphalz branch of the German SWAT organization known as SEK, briefed members of the 569th USFPS about the training and procedures used by German SWAT teams.

The meeting served as a first step toward renewing an old friendship.

"We have more than thirty years of very close cooperation and contacts (with the 569th)," said Herr Mehlinger. As commanders change, it is sometimes necessary to give new leadership a clear picture of how polizei and German SWAT teams operate in case their services are needed for a high-risk response on an American military installation in the area, he said.

In decades past, American security forces supported their own SWAT capabilities and regularly exercised with their German counterparts. The two entities often practiced storming mock-hijacked aircraft together on the Ramstein flight line. But with drastically increased operations in the Middle East, U.S. forces have reevaluated their priorities.

"In recent years, a lot of our weight of operations has shifted to overseas operations, air base defense and deployed operations," said Maj. Chris Bromen, 569th USFPS commander. "In those years, for (SWAT) capability we've had to rely more upon partnerships with our local communities."

The elite German SWAT units are trained to respond to high-risk scenarios including hostage situations and terrorist acts. They can respond in urban, rural and maritime settings.

"Security forces have to be ready to respond to any incident at any time, and we're not always going to have that capability right at our fingertips," said Major Bromen. "Should our installation commander need to call on (German SWAT) for assistance, we want to be prepared to receive them and get the bugs worked out ahead of time."

Both security units hope the meeting is a sign of more cooperation ahead.

"We've got a pretty good exercise history with SEK," Major Bromen said. "In the near future I'd like to do more exercises with our host-nation polizei and the SEK."

"It's necessary to work together," added Herr Mehlinger. "Our focus and our target is to save people's lives, and to make the community safe for everybody."