Articles

CATM team trains Andersen Airmen

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Adarius Petty
  • 36th Wing Public Affairs
ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam --  The four-person 36th Security Forces Squadron Combat Arms Training and Maintenance flight trains over 2,000 Airmen each year in weapons operations to maintain combat readiness requirements across Team Andersen.

The CATM mission is to ensure all members of Team Andersen are able to use and maintain weapons they are required to use as part of their Air Force specialty requirements. Additionally, they ensure that all service members who handle these weapons are trained properly and effectively.

The Andersen CATM section offers courses for a wide range of weapons such as the M-4 carbine, M-9 revolver, M-249 Squad Assault Weapon and several others. The courses combine classroom instruction with practical, hands-on range training where each student is required to qualify on their respective weapons before being officially certified on their Air Force Form 522, said Tech. Sgt. Michael Gibbons, 36th SFS NCO in charge of CATM.

"It's good to have a general knowledge of weapons in preparation of war or active shooter situations," he added.

The most frequent customers CATM has are Airmen from the 36th SFS, 644th Combat Communications Squadron, 36th Civil Engineer Squadron and 554th RED HORSE Squadron, who are required to qualify on various weapons yearly. CATM also provides training to anyone who has a deployment tasking requiring weapons qualification. In total, they train approximately 2,000 Airmen per year.

"I think it was beneficial for someone who is inexperienced with a gun to get the chance to learn the weapon," said Airman Jonathon Rudd, 36th Civil Engineering Squadron firefighter, who attended the M-9 pistol class.

During that course, Airmen learned skills needed to perform threat discrimination, respond to a failure-to-stop scenario, how to fire while stepping left or right and firing on burst mode from a standing position without support. They also learned how to take the weapons apart and clean them properly.

"Without these capabilities CATM provides, our security forces wouldn't be able to defend our base," Gibbons said.

The training provided by CATM is especially important for security forces Airmen because they must be able to respond at a moment's notice to protect government assets no matter where they are.