Training brings Airmen to tears

  • Published
  • By Airmen 1st Class Mariette M. Adams
  • 6th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Five Airmen with the 6th Security Forces Squadron (SFS) completed oleoresin capsicum (OC) training during a Less Than Lethal Certification Course at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, Jan. 28, 2016.

The training provides Airmen with a firsthand experience where they can learn how to handle themselves if they are sprayed with OC commonly known as pepper spray. OC training must be completed before security forces Airmen can carry OC while on-duty.

The training involved a classroom session that covered essential procedures and proper techniques. Afterwards, Airmen participated in a hands-on portion where they were sprayed with OC before completing various exercises, to include defending themselves with a baton and accurately identifying a training weapon held by a suspect, then challenging and apprehending that suspect.

The training tested Airmen both physically and mentally. 

"It can be painful and distracting, which can cause a bad situation when it comes to handling your weapon or trying to contain an individual," explained Staff Sgt. Trisha Eddy, a security forces unit scheduler and instructor with 6th SFS. "It can be a mental block where you can't focus on anything other than how much your eyes hurt."

The temporary effects of OC spray include involuntary eye closure, coughing, eye dryness, burning sensations, and other painful symptoms.

Although painful, the training enhances Airmen's professional skills, and provides a firsthand experience to one of the less than lethal forces weapons they carry.

"It is extremely important for Airmen to have this training so they can defend themselves appropriately, as well as know how to react if a subject were to spray them on duty," said Eddy.

With the training, came a greater knowledge for the non-lethal weapon they will now carry.

"Now we know what to do if we come into encounter with another individual that has OC and we were to get sprayed by OC," explained Senior Airman Barbara Walker-Johnson, an installation patrolman with 6th SFS. "We now know what to do to get through the situation in order to get the perpetrator if we were attacked."