Senior Airman Adrian Salazar
“It’s not all about kicking doors, speed, surprise or violence of action… in everything we do its about survivability, safety and saving lives,” said Adam Perschau, Team Commander of NCIS Regional Enforcement Action Capabilities Team.
Recently, Tinker Air Force Base hosted an Naval Criminal Investigative Service REACT team— made up of experts in diverse tactical disciplines including operational planning, intelligence gathering, marksmanship, breaching, hostage rescue and other areas.
The REACT team taught Airmen from the 72nd Security Forces Squadron and Sailors from U.S. Navy’s Security Forces Strategic Communications Wing One in several of these areas.
"We wanted to get some senior master-at-arms for a week of tactics training, room clearing, room entries, building approaches and medical training," Perschau said. "The Air Force guys being here was a surprise, but it's been a benefit because we've been able to use their facilities for the classroom, medical training and the shoot house."
Staff Sgt. Donovan Williams, a member of the 72nd Security Forces Squadron Training Cadre, said he enjoyed working with the REACT team.
“Seeing how they do tactics versus how we do tactics was really cool to see from a different perspective,” said Williams. “We have different ways of how we accomplish the same vision, but I really liked being able to work with a separate service and appreciated it a lot.”
The training exercise was designed to improve skills of both Sailors and Airmen.
“We introduce our package in a crawl, walk, run method and yesterday when we got to the run we saw the light bulbs click on,” said Perschau. “They saw a void for a hole and they fill it, like coverage being dropped and somebody steps up and picks up coverage, that is reaffirmation that they are getting it and executing.”
The students also appreciated the training.
“Early in the week we did ’glass house’ training, which is basically entering rooms that are made of just tape on the floor so we can see room clearing from the outside,” said Williams. “My favorite part of the week was when we got to the shoot house… we started flowing and moving as a team.”
Master-at-Arms 1st Class James Phelps shared the sentiment.
“I appreciated the level of training we were able to receive from the NCIS agents, as well as being afforded the opportunity to conduct joint training with the 72nd Security Forces Squadron,” he said.
Although the REACT team only trained for one week, the impact of bringing together both services could lead to more integration and team building at Tinker.
The team hopes the week-long joint training exercise will lead to stronger service integration here.
“I want to continue integrating with our Navy counterparts and after receiving their information and working with them, I hope we can find time to train more,” said Williams.
Tinker Air Force Base Security Forces Sailors and Airmen prepare to clear and enter a room at the 72nd Security Forces shoot house on Nov. 07, 2024. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service training allowed the joint team to hone their skills in close quarters combat, room clearing procedures and medical treatment. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Adrian Salazar) 
Tinker Air Force Base Security Forces personnel move through the 72nd Security Forces shoot house, executing a room clearing exercise as part of their joint training with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service’s Regional Enforcement Action Capabilities Team Nov. 07, 2024. The exercise was part of a week-long joint training with the NCIS Regional Enforcement Action Capabilities Team, aimed at enhancing inter-service cooperation and tactical skills. (Photo by Senior Airman Adrian Salazar) 
Tinker Air Force Base Security Forces Sailors and Airmen prepare to clear and enter a room during training with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service Regional Enforcement Action Capabilities Team at the 72nd Security Forces shoot house on Nov. 07, 2024. The training was led by the NCIS REACT team, which brought its expertise in diverse tactical disciplines, including operational planning, intelligence gathering, and marksmanship. (Photo by Senior Airman Adrian Salazar)