OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. -- The 55th Security Forces Squadron recently updated their Combat Arms Training and Maintenance facility with the finished construction of the new SFS campus on Offutt Air Force Base.
“The new CATM range facility is a significant improvement over our previous temporary MFR (modular firing range),” said Technical Sgt. Kyle Hicks, 55th SFS CATM trainer. “With an upgrade to 28 firing lanes from 14 in the MFR, this will allow the 55th SFS Combat Arms Section to double its class sizes and reduce training time by 50% for Team Offutt, strengthening the Fightin’ Fifty-Fifth’s commitment to relentless commitment to readiness and projecting air power across the globe.”
Last calendar year, the 55th SFS CATM section trained and qualified 3039 personnel across Offutt AFB utilizing the temporary modular firing range.
The new combined CATM and indoor firing range facility is a 40,500-square-foot complex designed with two classrooms, a simulator room and a fully contained, 25m ballistic protection-rated firing range used for small arms and light weapons qualifications, for PCS, deployers, ANG, and the 55th SFS, the Air Force’s largest SFS.
“The increased quality, number, and size of classrooms, meeting locations, computer lab, and firing range also improve education, training, and readiness, not only for our Recon Raiders, but also for the thousands of service members we train and develop annually across the base,” said Lt. Col Andrew Ferguson, 55th SFS commander. “All these things enable the 55th Security Forces Squadron to make great strides towards our vision of dynamic and empowered professionals “ALWAYS READY” to deliver steadfast lethal force protection.”
CATM instructors focus on ensuring all Airmen have the basic skills to defend themselves and their installations, not just Security Forces personnel, ensuring mission readiness across the Air Force. Training includes incorporating combat vignettes and scenarios to help Airmen develop a combat mindset and understand the why behind the training.
“Our mission is to execute unrivaled force protection enabling rapid power projection anytime, anywhere,” said Ferguson. “The 55th Security Forces Squadron is a mission enabler for the 55th Wing, 95th Wing, 557th Weather Wing, Headquarters, United States Strategic Command, and over 50 mission partners here at Offutt. Not only do we protect personnel and assets vital to national security here at home, our men and women also serve at operating locations and deployed locations around the globe. The people and assets we defend are of the utmost global strategic importance.”