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Team Minot defenders strike down GSC

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Jessica McConnell
  • Minot Air Force Base Public Affairs
CAMP MINDEN, La. --  Security forces Airmen from the 5th Bomb Wing and the 91st Missile Wing competed against other Air Force Global Strike Command security forces teams in the second annual Global Strike Challenge at Camp Minden, La., Nov. 5-7.

The Global Strike Challenge is a competition where Air Force Intercontinental Ballistic Missile and bomber forces compete against one another to be recognized as the best at what they do in the command. Each team was judged on completing various tasks during the competition to include their knowledge of tactical maneuvers as a team and as individuals, weapons familiarity, and overall job knowledge.

Master Sgt. Justin Haggerty, 5th Security Forces Squadron member, said he felt that his team did an excellent job during the competition, and that they have all had smiles on their faces since the day they arrived in Louisiana.
 
"It feels great to be done," Haggerty said following the competition. "I think our training was spot on. Everything they threw at us was exactly what we trained for."

Tech. Sgt. Kyle Andino, 91st Security Forces Group, said he thought the 91st SFG team felt very confident at the end of the competition as well.
 
"I think we won the whole competition," said Andino. "We trained hard for 30 days. We practiced everything we thought we'd be tested on during the competition."

The competition was comprised of three phases. The teams started by gearing up with blank magazines simulating a combat situation. The teams then moved on to complete a team movement through a large field while being fired at with blank rounds.
 
"The deal was, one team could only move while it was being covered by another team laying down, putting rounds downrange and covering their movement," said Haggerty. "We had to move and communicate so that no team got up while they were exposed to fire."
 
Once the teams completed their movement portion of the competition, they moved on to range determination, where each individual had to estimate how far away each target was from where they were standing, which Haggerty said was very difficult only using the naked eye.
 
Next in the obstacle was one of the more physically difficult phases to complete: the humvee movement.

"We moved to a course where we had to push a hummvee for what felt like forever," said Haggerty. "As a team, we got behind this 12,000 pound vehicle and just tried to get as much momentum as we could."

The next phase of the course included moving ammunition canisters from the humvee to a pallet on the ground without dropping them. Following the humvee challenge was a water movement task. Various buckets of water, marked with water level lines, were set up on one side of a field. Teams were challenged to combine the given buckets into one, which could only weight five pounds. Once the team felt they had the correct weight in the bucket, they had to run the bucket downrange and get it weighed.
 
Following the water movement was a phase challenging teams to go through a volley of individual movements.

"Movements included some sprinting, low crawling, high crawling, hand and knees crawling, and dragging a person using various buddy carries, including a fireman carry," said Haggerty. "We then had to pick up two full ammunition canisters, each weighing at least 25 pounds, and carry those down the field and back."
 
The challenge was a combination of mental and physical challenges with the bottom line of the challenge being whether a team can work as a team and get the job done when the pressure is on.
 
"How to move and communicate as a team in less than ideal circumstances was the basic test of this course," said Haggerty. "Anyone can go out on any given training day and perform their best, but when the pressure is on and people are watching, it's a whole different story."

Haggerty said the GSC was a great way for all AFGSC teams to come together learn from each other.

"It's awesome to get to meet up with your brothers and sisters from across the globe that you don't get to interact with everyday," Haggerty said.

Event scores are scheduled to be posted during a scoring event on Nov. 8 and 9 at Air Force Global Strike Command Headquarters.