Staff Sgt. Jake Logue of the 35th Aerial Port Squadron, Joint Base McGuire-Dix, N.J., gets encouragement from Master Sgt. Josh Bell as he finishes the tough Fit to Fight portion of the Air Force Reserve’s 2012 Port Dawg Challenge, going on this week at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Ga. (Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Chris Durney)
Tech Sgt. Gustav Schmidle, 96th Aerial Port Squadron, Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., performs a ‘burpee’ – a fluid combination of a push-up, squat thrust and jumping jack – during a tough physical test at the Air Force Reserve’s 2012 Port Dawg Challenge at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Ga. June 20, 2012. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Chris Durney)
by Master Sgt. Chris Durney
Port Dawg Challenge Public Affairs
6/21/2012 - DOBBINS AIR RESERVE BASE, Ga. -- The Air Force Reserve Command's bi-annual air mobility competition took a decidedly more physical turn on the second day of the three-day contest that ends June 21.
Competitors from across the nation in the Port Dawg Challenge are locked in a battle to determine the best aerial port team in the Air Force Reserve. In addition to having their professional skills put to the test, they underwent a tough physical fitness challenge today.
Out on a portion of the flight line here, three members of each team had to run five 300-meter laps and perform a tough callisthenic known as a 'burpee' within two minutes per lap.
Despite the Georgia heat, the strength of the Air Force Reserve's aerial port community shown through the sweat and pain as a blistering pace was set. A burpee is a fluid combination of a push-up, squat thrust and jumping jack.
The Port Dawg Challenge has brought together 19 six-person teams from 17 installations in a tough competition that focuses on the Air Force's worldwide mobility capability
Aerial Port units perform military logistics functions that include passenger and cargo processing, equipment loading, air cargo preparation and load plans, and supervising units engaged in aircraft loading and unloading operations.
The biannual event was created to generate esprit de corps within the Air Force Reserve Aerial Port community. In doing so, it also promotes professionalism, demonstrates air and space expeditionary forces mission capabilities, and helps identify best practices to improve wartime readiness.
Events for this year's competition test driving and loading prowess, administrative and processing skills, pallet build-up skills, forklift handling, load planning, and physical fitness.
