Questions And Answers
1943 General Henry Hap Arnold - ANS Established office of the Air Provost Marshal
Army Air Force (AAF) and military police combined
Renamed AAF Security Batallions
National Security Act of 1947 - ANS Created the USAF
Army Air Force MP eventually became the USAF
1948 General Order No. 1 - ANS Designated units and individuals serving under them as
"air police"
Established the Air Provost Marshal
1st Air Provost Marshal - ANS Colonel Joseph V Dillon
Korean War Era 1950 - ANS Air police were the only "armed" force on base
AF needed to develop a more extensive base defense
* unpreparedness of Korean War led to development and training of all AF members
1950 - ANS First Air Force police school was established at Tyndall AFB in Florida
1952 - ANS Air Base Defense School was developed at Parks AFB in California
1956 - ANS Air Police Training transferred to Lackland AFB in Texas
1960s Vietnam and Air Base Defense - ANS The name of the "Air Provost Marshal"
changed to the Director of Security and Law Enforcement
1965 - ANS First Air Policeman killed in action in Vietnam
1966 - ANS Career field name changed from Air Police to Security Police
1967 - ANS Operation SAFE SIDE formed 1041st SP Squadron
* test squadron to deploy to Southeast Asia
Battle of Son nhut - ANS Jan 31 1968 Vietnam Tet defense offensive
- biggest test of combat effectiveness
- bunker 051 5 man team held off assault long enough to wait for back up
, - attacked by a force of over seven Viet cong army battalions 2,500 enemy troops
- it was a Vietnamese holiday so it wasn't expected
- blew a hole in the west dense and penetrated the base
- four of five men were killed Louis fisher, William cyr, Charles Hebron, Roger mills, Alonzo
Coggins (the only survivor)
- managed to take back the bunker and all five men were awarded the Silver Star for their
defense of bunker 051
Lessons Learned From Battle of Son Nhut - ANS Air Base defense policy needed revision
"Whole Base" Concept
- needed security guarding all points of the base
March 1971 - ANS Security Forces split into Security and Law Enforcement
November 1971 - ANS Women entered LEA
May 1975 SS Mayaguez - ANS Captured by Cambodian Forces
- 2 helicopters were sent
- one went down, 18 SP died
- marine corps took over the mission
- 18 of them revived brown stars of Valor
Operation URGENT FURY - ANS 1983 Grenada
- called upon help from the US and Cuba tried to take them over because of their major Airport
to use it for arms and military equipment
- SP units among first to arrive
- participated in drug interdiction and humanitarian relief
- helped with securing air landing strips and control of enemy prisoners of war
Operation JUST CAUSE - ANS US invasion of Panama in December 1989
- brought a quick and decisive end to the dictatorial regime of General Manuel Antonio Noriega
(commander of the Panamanian Defense Forces)
- 27,000 American troops hit twenty seven targets in Panama
- Security Police units tasked with securing landing strips
- participated in drug interdiction and humanitarian relief
Operation Desert Shield - ANS August 1990 objective was the defense of Saudi Arabia in
the wake of the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq.
- was the first time we went to war on foreign soil since the Vietnam conflict
Operation Desert Storm - ANS Objective was to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi occupation.
Security personnel were tasked with securing Air Force bases, providing dignitary support,
securing classified information and resources and counter-terrorism. Also to secure air strips.