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Ready for anything A few days after Christmas, the routine at Hickam Air Force Base's main gate was shattered when a motorist ran through the security checkpoint.
Hickam Air Force Base security
duty is routine as a rule, but it's
the exceptions that matterBy Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.comGuards chased the driver to a passenger terminal, where he jumped out of his vehicle wielding a bayonet in each hand. He began to threaten the officers and shout racial slurs.
"He was threatening to kill all white and black patrolmen on the scene," recalled Tech. Sgt. Ami Masaniai, 15th Security Forces Squadron flight chief and a 16-year Air Force veteran. "Me being Samoan may have helped. I was able to establish a rapport with the suspect."
Soon on the scene was Maj. Michael Kifer, the squadron commander. "Technical Sergeant Masaniai stood perfectly still as this man with two bayonets in hand made a series of threatening gestures," he recalled.
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Masaniai kept talking to the distraught man and was able to gain his trust. When he got close enough, he grabbed the man's wrists and took the bayonets away.Kifer said Masaniai probably saved the man's life, since security forces were prepared to shoot him. The suspect was turned over to the FBI.
The Dec. 28 incident illustrates the heightened security demands at major military installations. Since the terror attacks last September, Hickam has beefed up its security ranks by adding 30 reservists from the Hawaii Air National Guard and about 75 other personnel from different units at the base.
"Turning a computer programmer into a cop with a week's worth of training takes a lot of coordination," said Tech. Sgt. John Sobonya, the unit's noncommissioned officer in charge of training.
"We've been doing this job for years, and we're asking these people to learn it in a week and meld into a unit," said Sobonya, a 10-year Air Force veteran.
More than 25,000 cars and trucks a day enter Hickam, the heart of the Pacific Air Forces command and mid-Pacific refueling layover for any president or dignitary going to Asia.
"This is where the four-star works," said Masaniai, referring to Gen. William Begert, who heads the Air Force's operations in the Pacific. "That means we get a lot of attention being here at the hub of the Pacific."
Masaniai is one of 200 airmen and women assigned to the security force responsible for manning the gates at Hickam, policing the flight line and patrolling other areas of the base. The unit also handles the security details at the Air Force's satellite tracking station at Kaena Point.
Since the 1991 Desert Storm campaign, the squadron also has provided manpower for various military operations in the Persian Gulf, including Southern Watch.
Senior Master Sgt. Jim Cornman, the unit's operations supervisor, added that coordination and integration has been the biggest challenge as Hickam's security force picks up replacements assigned from the 10 units on the base.
"We're taking people from their primary duty station here and asking them to make a lifestyle change and to be part of a team, but they have been doing a great job," said Cornman.
For many of the 30 Hawaii Air National Guard members, the change has been easy since they were traditional reservists, serving once a month on weekend drills and summer camp, as law enforcement specialists with the 154th Security Force Squadron.
Staff Sgt. Clifford Ramson has been with the Air Guard for 11 years and was placed on active duty at Hickam on Oct. 15. Ramson has also been with the Honolulu Police Department for nearly eight years and pointed out that many of the National Guard members are fellow officers from HPD, the neighbor islands and local federal law enforcement agencies.
Others, like Senior Airman Saul Alvarico, 42, had to take a cut in pay when they came on active duty in October.
"I am eating it when it comes to pay, but my country needs me," said Alvarico, who was a carpet layer before the events of Sept. 11 changed his life.
Standing watch at Hickam's main gate, checking identification of all the drivers and passengers trying to enter the main installation, and random searches of all cars and trucks, is something Hawaii Air Guard law enforcement personnel normally don't do as part of their reservist routine.
In the past, it's been mostly flight line security patrols for the local guardsmen and women, said Ramson, who also pointed out that most of his job as a civilian police officer was done out of a patrol car.
"It's more monotonous standing watch on a 12-hour shift," added Ramson as he directed cars entering Hickam. "It's got its own challenges."