Taser! Taser! Taser!

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Tiffany DeNault
  • 21st Space Wing Public Affairs
PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. --  Those three words no one wants to hear; taser, taser, taser. Once those clicks start, your life will be electrifying and not in a pleasant way.

The 21st Security Forces Squadron members participate in yearly Conductive Electrical Weapon training, commonly known as the taser, Nov. 19. The CEW is used as a secondary, non-lethal weapon while on duty. 

The tasers used by 21st SFS delivers waves of electricity into the body through wires fired from the device. Small barbs at the end of the wires attach to the recipient to deliver the shock.  The waves of electricity impair the affected nerves causing involuntary muscle contractions and impaired motor skills.

"The CEW is set to a five second cycle and gives you a window of opportunity to get someone to comply either with verbal commands or physical force to get someone handcuffed," said Staff Sgt. Anthony Brodie, 21st Security Forces Squadron noncommissioned officer in charge unit trainer. "There are many levels of neuromuscular incapacitation; people have different levels of pain tolerance and the more muscle mass someone has the more painful the shock will be."

During the training, members participated in a classroom portion explaining all the rules, regulations, usage and science behind the CEW. There was a practical portion where the member encountered an instructor in a body suit and they had to react quickly. Some participants used the CEW to apprehend the instructor acting as a suspect.

The participants have a choice if they want to be tased or not. Senior Airman Kyle Harrington, 21st SFS unit scheduler, he wanted to be tased because if he ever has to use the taser he wanted to know what it would feel like for the suspect. When it was his turn, he was instructed to lie on his stomach while one probe was clipped onto his right hip and the other on his left calf. Then those three words were said; taser, taser taser.

"All of a sudden my body was completely tensed up and had total muscle failure. All I could say to myself during the five seconds was 'Please STOP!'" explained Harrington. "It felt like I was being tased forever and it wasn't going to end. It was definitely the longest five seconds of my life." 


The realism and stress during the practical portion provides the members experience and confidence necessary to execute their mission safeguarding the people, property and resources on Peterson Air Force Base and Colorado's Front Range.

 

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