United States Air Force Security Forces
The job of USAF Security Forces to protect, defend and fight. They are responsible for missile security, defending air bases around the globe, law enforcement on those bases, combat arms and handling military working dogs.
The United States Air Force Security Forces (SF) are the ground combat force and military police service of the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force. The USAF Security Forces were formerly known as Military Police (MP), Air Police (AP), and Security Police (SP) at various points in their history. They were formed on the premise of being the Air Force's "Marine Corps", in that they would provide security for the Air Force similar to how the Marines provide security for the Navy.
Mission
As outlined in Department of the Air Force publications, Security Forces are responsible for protecting, defending, and fighting to ensure U.S. Air Force, joint, and coalition mission success. They are responsible not only for installation law and discipline enforcement, but also base defense and ground combat.
The USAF uses the term Air Base Ground Defense (ABGD) for defense of U.S. Air Force bases. This specialty is filled by members of the Air Force Security Forces, who serve not only as military law enforcement officers, but also as ground combat troops defending U.S. air bases around the world from possible attacks. In these capacities, their duties are similar to a combination of the roles performed in the UK military by the RAF Regiment and RAF Police.
Lackland AFB in Texas is where the primary technical training begins for trainees, Camp Bullis in Texas is where all levels of Air Base Ground Defense (ABGD) are instructed, the course ranges in length from 4–6 weeks. In these weeks of training Air Force Security Forces are taught to operate the following weapons: M4 Carbine, M-18, M-9, M-203, M-240B, M-249 (SAW), MK-19, as well as other base defense weapons and tools.
“United States Air Force Security Forces” enters the record as the job of USAF Security Forces to protect, defend and fight. They are responsible for missile security, defending air bases around the globe, law enforcement on those bases, combat arms and handling military working dogs. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what United, States and Force can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“United States Air Force Security Forces” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, United, States and Force provides the most credible route into that argument.
Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1772975. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
Later summaries often reconcile disputed chronology or motive more neatly than the contemporary record permits. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.
- Event chronology
- Institutional context
- Locating named record creators
Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “United States Air Force Security Forces”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow United States Air Force Security Forces primary sources, United States Air Force Security Forces archive and United research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “United States Air Force Security Forces”?
- Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
- What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “United States Air Force Security Forces” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.