Did you know that roughly one-third, or 500 million acres, of the U.S. is forest? And did you know that Puerto Rico’s El Yunque National Forest is the only tropical rainforest in the U.S. that is considered a jungle? By definition, a forest has many tall trees and can usually be traveled by humans, while a jungle is usually dense and overgrown with a tropical or humid climate.

So why did a Security Forces Specialist assigned to the 148th Fighter Wing, Minnesota Air National Guard, travel to the pacific to participate in the Air Forces’ new Jungle Agile Employment Course?

An instructor and planner for the Air National Guard’s Cold Weather Operations Course at Camp Ripley Training Center, Minn., Master Sgt. Ian Nickila, “wanted to learn the finer details of operating and surviving in the jungle climate.”

The 10-day JACE course, attended by 22 service members from the Air Force, Army, and Marines, was planned and executed by the 36th Contingency Response Group and the 736th Security Forces Squadron, Anderson Air Force Base, Guam. The CRG mission is to advise, defend, construct, connect, and operate. The 736th is creating training to help Airmen produce a rapid Air Base Opening during Humanitarian Assistance or Disaster Relief mission.

“The core purpose of the course is to prepare airmen who will execute future Agile Combat Employment operations, at small spokes skills necessary to survive if support is interrupted or delayed, will be vital” said Capt. Wyatt Huff, Operations Officer with the 736th Security Forces Squadron and lead course developer.

The JACE contained survival-based curriculum to include survival, navigation, force protection, and mobility skills. Students collected and purified food and water, trained on cliffside rappelling, knot tying, building hasty shelters, and fire starting.

“On day one, Nickila stood out as an avid outdoorsman and his desire to share his skills was of great benefit to his classmates,” said Huff.

The three-day field training exercise included agile combat employment concepts, allowing Nickila and his classmates to practice operations with speed, scope, and complexity found in recent campaigns.

While in the field, the class attendees “were hunted by the course planners, or CADRE, so we built hasty shelters to sleep in,” said Nickila.

The physically grueling course taught Nickila “the importance of water,” he said. “I’ve always known I need water but determining how much I need and how much I wanted to carry in my ruck was a challenge.” Nickila filled a camelback, a canteen, and Nalgene bottle three times a day, and still fought dehydration. “I realized if I was struggling, that others would be, so finding an abundant and consistent water source is vital to operating in the jungle.”

Nickila, a 2005 graduate of Duluth Denfeld High School, joined the Air National Guard prior to his senior year of high school. “After September 11th, I knew I wanted to join the military,” said Nickila. “I talked to all types of recruiters. My father’s Army unit was activated at the 148th during Operation Noble Eagle; he convinced me that Security Forces would be a good fit.”

Since joining, Nickila has deployed to Manas Air Base, Kyrgyzstan; Eskan Village Compound, Saudi Arabia; Thumrait Air Base, Oman; Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar; and Amahd al-Jaber Air Air Base, Kuwait in addition to participating several specialized training exercises.

“Having ‘Defenders” with diverse training backgrounds is a key to our future success,” said 148th Security Forces Operations Superintendent, Senior Master Sgt. Ben Nyen. “Ian has extensive experience in the Middle East and has always stepped up to increase his knowledge base. As a person who winter camps for fun, the Cold Weather Operations Course was a great opportunity for him to show his skills an instructor. Now he can teach the opposing lessons learned at the JACE course to our squadron.”

Bibliography

U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service (2013). By the Numbers. Retrieved from By the Numbers | US Forest Service

U.S. Air Force (2021). U.S. Air Force Doctrine Note 1-21, Agile Combat Employment (2021, Dec. 21). Retrieved from https://www.af.mil/Portals/1/documents/Force%20Management/AFDN_1-21_ACE.pdf