ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE BASE DARWIN, Australia -- For most of the service members here, training in Australia has been a new experience, but two Marines deployed during Southern Frontier 2003 have been working side by side with their Australian counterparts.
Master Sgt. Eric Drummond and Lance Cpl. Sean Hallenbeck, military policemen with Marine Wing Support Squadron 171, have been learning and training with the RAAF 321st Combat Support Squadron Security Forces.
"We have been working as liaisons between the Marine commanding officers, the RAAF security police and the Northern Territory police department," said Drummond. "We correspond with them during any incidents or concerns involving Marines from a law enforcement standpoint."
According to Drummond, they have the opportunity to see how the Australian Security Forces operate.
"They break things down a lot further then we do, especially with their canine units, and I am going to try and implement some of the things that they do into our own Force Protection Plan back in Iwakuni," said Drummond.
In addition to corresponding with the Australian police, Drummond and Hallenbeck have also been working as customs agents.
"We have been processing service members leaving from here and going straight back to Iwakuni," said Drummond. "If they go through customs down here, it will greatly decrease the amount of processing that they will have to go through upon arriving back in Japan."
Even with the rigorous working hours, the two military policemen have been able to witness the training that the Australian canine unit undergoes on a daily basis.
"They run their dogs through an obstacle course where they have to run up ladders, low crawl through tunnels and even jump through a ring of fire," said Hallenbeck.
"The work that they are doing with their dogs is phenomenal, and I have learned a great deal about my own job from working with them on this deployment," he added.
The Australians have similar feelings toward working along side their Marine counterparts.
"It has been great working with the Marines. We have been able to come together and work as a team, learning more and more from each other on a daily basis," said RAAF Cpl. Greg Sherriff, military working dog handler.