Westover's 2011 Rodeo rounds up big training, big win

Published Aug. 5, 2011
By 2nd Lt. Andre Bowser
439th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. -- World-class training, neck-and-neck competition, and a coveted award for excellence in maintenance describe team Westover's experience at the Air Force's premier airlift competition.

Westover's maintenance team won the Knucklebuster Award, an Air Force level award that "recognizes the maintenance team with the highest standards of professionalism, dedication and mutual respect for competitors," according to the award certificate.

Thirty-four Team Westover Airmen split into five groups based on competition areas of aerial porters, aeromedical evacuation squadron, flight crew, security forces and maintenance spent July 24 - 30 at Air Mobility Rodeo 2011, a biennial international competition that focuses on training airmen for mission readiness.

Lt. Col. Ian Coogan, Westover team chief, said while training was the emphasis of the competition, wining felt good.

Senior Master Sgt. Michael Hamlet, a 30-year veteran and the team leader for the aerial porters, said his team received invaluable training experience.

"This is more than a training opportunity for the young guys here; this is about the Airmen taking back the lessons they learn here and sharing the training with other Airmen," Sgt. Hamlet said.

The real prize taken away from Rodeo was the knowledge gained by junior members of the team, and the camaraderie forged with other bases by reconnecting, in many cases, with old friends, Sgt. Hamlet said.

"The 'port dogs' are one big family," he said of his four teammates and the hundreds of aerial porters from other bases. "It's like a reunion for a lot of us because we have deployed (overseas) with a lot of the other teams."

Chief Master Sgt. James Mitchell, team leader for the maintainers, said training was always the emphasis for his team of 12.

The five-member security forces team, all new to Rodeo, said that this wasn't their first high-pressure training mission.

Descending a hill during one competition, security forces team had to simulate an assault with fully-loaded, automatic weapons; Rodeo officials timed their movements and ability to aim, fire and hit mechanical targets hundreds of yards away.

In another scenario, security forces members were made to deliver humanitarian assistance in a simulated, war-torn area, and came under hostile enemy fire.

Tech. Sgt. Scott Taylor, security forces team leader, said his team were now Rodeo veterans and were ready to return in 2013.

The flight crew was particularly challenged on the second day of the event, as the team alerted itself at sunrise in order to make its flight time of about 6 a.m. ; the maintenance squadron was also there early, in order to perform pre-flight work on the plane; equally, aerial porters were on alert to perform an engine-running offload after the flight crew completed their event -- demonstrating the rapid succession of events and how each team depended on the other.

Maj. Thomas Chafe, team leader for aeromedical evacuation troops, said his team of five took much more from the event than the adrenaline rush of providing medical care high above the ground in the equivalent of a flying hospital.

"It was a great opportunity to see how other AE units do the same mission," he said, "and it was especially interesting to watch the international teams."

But the Rodeo wasn't all work.

After long days of challenging events, pitting the Westover team against other teams from all over the world, participants made their way to "Rainier Ranch," where each team retreated to a tent complete with beverages, food and fun in the spirit of the old Las Vegas axiom: "What happens in... [Rainier Ranch] stays in... [Rainier Ranch]."

Air Mobility Command leaders said the biennial Rodeo event, while positioned under the banner of competition, is really about cooperation, training, and shared experiences in sportsmanship -- and even a little science fiction.

During the closing ceremonies of the week-long event, new Air Force technology was rolled out for the enjoyment of the audience.

Rodeo leadership introduced Gen. Raymond Johns, Jr., Air Mobility Command commander, to the audience of more than 2,000 inside a large hangar through a giant-screen video teleconference.

After apologizing for being too busy to attend the Rodeo, he decided to use new Air Force technology to make amends.

With flashing laser lights, a large cloud of smoke and the equivalent of a rock show explosion on the stage centered in the vast base hangar, General Johns materialized on the stage.

After acknowledging that the wonders of modern science were really science fiction, he noted that everyone present was a real winner because of the "world-class training" they received.

"Competition sharpens skills," Gen. Johns told the Rodeo competitors. "I watched you with the techniques you shared with each other, and what you all do allows us all to prevail."

Brig. Gen. Fredrick H. Martin, Rodeo commander, echoed the comments from his boss.

"This is an opportunity to get together with our teammates from around the Air Force and around the world," he said. "That's what makes Rodeo so important."

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For more information and photographs from the 2011 Rodeo, visit the slideshow at www.westover.afrc.af.mil, tune into the Commander's Channel, or visit us on Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mobilityairmen/sets/72157627178647471.