What do you do as a cordon sentry?

Capt. Paul Zwilling
435th Security Forces Group


***image1***How do you react to seeing lights and sirens and emergency responders busy redirecting traffic and the base populace or attending to injured personnel? How do you react when you are told to evacuate your building or are turned away from going to your desired destination? How can you help as a cordon sentry?

Imagine you are posted as the second member of a base patrol. The desk sergeant announces the start of a Euro Thunder exercise on the radio. There’s been an “explosion” by the Ramstein Officers’ Club. You are posted on the traffic circle and directed to deny anyone access inside the cordon. A field grade officer approaches you and asks why traffic has been stopped. You tell him there is an exercise in progress, an explosion, and no one is allowed into the cordoned area. He becomes irritated and decides to go through right in front of you instead of through the entry control point.

This is not the right way to react; unfortunately this behavior happens on Ramstein. His reactions can either help or hurt the mission. All of us here are military-affiliated and we know we have to do our part to see the successful conclusion to this event; real world or not.

Now imagine the field grade officer obeys the security forces member this time. The officer is asked to keep people from entering the cordon and direct them to the entry control point. He complies and does his part to help. An exercise demands no less of your support.

Every month there are exercises in the KMC, and there is the possibility for everyone to be delayed or called upon to act as cordon sentries. You are legally required to respond to the security forces directions no matter what rank you or the security forces member wears. So don’t hesitate or quibble … step up to the plate and do your part.

If directed to be a cordon sentry by security forces, here’s what you need to do:
-Give your military ID to security forces to account for you.
-Security forces will direct you to post and give you specific instructions.
-Monitor all avenues of approach around where you’re posted.
-Stop all personnel from entering the cordon.
-Direct personnel to the entry control point if they need access inside the cordon.
-At the end, security forces will return your ID and thank you for your help.