CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. –
More than 30 Airmen from Charleston AFB returned home July 25 as winners after participating in Rodeo 2009, Air Mobility Command's premier mobility competition.
Rodeo 2009 was held at McChord AFB, Wash., July 19 through 24 where more than 100 teams and 2,500 people from the Air Force, Reserve as well as allied nations were expected to participate.
It was announced during the awards ceremony July 24 that Team Charleston was going to bring home awards for the best C-17 air refueling crew, best C-17 short field landing crew and the best maintenance pre-flight team.
More than 70 awards were handed out during the competition's closing ceremony.
The air refueling competition requires both a refueling aircraft, such as a KC-135 and the receiving aircraft to work together to transfer 10,000 pounds of fuel with 20 minutes of toggle time in a 20 minute period. Teams are deducted points for early or late arrival at the air refueling control point, for every second of toggle time under 20 minutes and for each time the refueling boom is disconnected.
"The KC -135 has what they call a boom envelope, and you have to stay inside of that envelope without a gross deviation," said Capt. Rob Lowe, the aircraft commander for the Charleston Rodeo team. "If you get a gross deviation, known as a 'red light' on the indicator lights, you start losing points. So, we were able to maintain contact without any gross deviations and get the max amount of points.
The Charleston C-17 crew was the only team in the competition to receive a perfect score in aerial refueling, said Tech. Sgt. H.P. Bordeaux Jr., a 17th Airlift Squadron loadmaster on the Rodeo team.
During the short field landing competition, the aircraft attempts to make a smooth, consistent approach to land precisely in the center of a 500 foot landing zone. Teams are also awarded points for taking off at the proper speed, smooth approach and landing without bouncing.
"It was a great opportunity to showcase the C-17," said Captain Lowe.
Captain Lowe said the design of the aircraft provides C-17 pilots a great amount of control, which would be impossible in any other airplane of comparable size during short field landings.
"It's like the best roller coaster ride that you could ever take," he said. "The captains bars out on a normal runway is traditionally 1,500 feet down, and most airplanes aim at or beyond the captains bars when they land. We're talking about landing on a 90-foot wide runway, in most circumstances, and a 500-foot zone. So, it's a lot more precise, and the C-17's the perfect plane to do it in."
For the maintenance preflight competition, maintenance competition aircraft are inspected for compliance with - 6 work cards or international rules for maintenance pre-flight. The aircraft must be in operations order-specified configuration, with required maintenance records and forms documentation available for review.
The plane the maintenance crew provided was in pristine condition, said Sergeant Bordeaux. Their maintenance paid back big dividends.
Master Sgt. Ricky Clark, the Rodeo maintenance team chief, said he was equally impressed with the performance of the aircrew.
"The guys worked really hard on the plane," he said. "We kept it tightened up, kept it clean, worked on all the systems and made sure all the systems were operations checking good."
Tech. Sgt. Jeffrey Turk, 437th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron crew chief, who worked on maintenance standby crew for Rodeo 2009, said this was not his first experience being part of a Rodeo team. He had competed about 10 years ago, while stationed at Yokota Air Base, Japan.
"It's definitely a team building thing," he said. "It's one of those things that will get a bunch of people together for a common goal, and it seemed to work out pretty well."
Col. Donald Shaffer, 437th Airlift Wing vice commander echoed Sergeant Turk's sentiments.
"Watching our Airmen in action gave me a sense of pride, and made me appreciate the hard work it takes to achieve excellence," he said.
"In the weeks prior spent preparing and training, we were really impressed with the support we received at home," said Captain Lowe. "Any successes we had were due in large part to maintenance, current operations and scheduling, aerial port and airfield management to name a few."
Sergeant Turk said the tremendous amount of effort maintainers put into the competition can be overwhelming, and to be recognized felt well-deserved.
"We highly encourage people to take the opportunity to go up there and do this," said Sergeant Bordeaux. "It's awesome."
Team Charleston Airmen eager to join in the hard work and fun at Rodeo will have their next shot in two years. Until then, the mobility mission at hand will keep all occupied and provide the tools and training needed to stand among the best at AMC's mobility Rodeo.
[Staff Sgt. Daniel Bowles, 437th Airlift Wing Public Affairs contributed to this article.]