Elmendorf rodeo crew rounded up and ready to go

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Christopher Gross
  • 3rd Wing Public Affairs
ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska --  Elmendorf's Rodeo team has been rounded up, and they are ready to go. 

About 35 Arctic Warriors will compete in the Air Mobility Command Rodeo at McChord Air Force Base, Wash., July 18 to 25. 

Since 1962 the AMC Rodeo has been held to help improve the skills of air mobility professionals. The competition helps Airmen improve in five major areas: aeromedical evacuation, flight attendants, mobile command and control operations, aerial port operations and security forces. 

Members from several Elmendorf squadrons competed to earn one of the 35 spots available for the AMC Rodeo team. The team will include of three pilots, one loadmaster, two joint airdrop inspectors, 11 maintenance members and four security forces members and five aerial port members. The rest of the representatives will provide personnel support and officiating. 

Approximately 50 teams from 10 countries will participate in the rodeo including Brazil, Israel, Spain and Turkey. Representatives from 13 other countries, including Afghanistan, Morocco, Vietnam and Saudi Arabia, will observe the competition. 

Elmendorf will use one of their C-17 Globemaster IIIs to compete. In all, nine different types of aircraft will be used during the competition. The grading criteria for each team are based on the specific type of aircraft. 

One graded area is "time over target," based on the aircraft arriving at a specified time to initiate the drop. Another is how accurate the drop is, as points will be deducted for every foot the object is away from the target. Other graded areas of the competition include assault landing, combat off load, air refueling and several more. 

Over the last several months, the team has been putting in a lot of hard work, said Maj. Blake Johnson, Elmendorf's AMC rodeo team chief. Johnson spoke highly of his maintenance team members saying they seemed to have been practicing the hardest and putting forth the most effort. 

He said his team has only two disadvantages - having a smaller unit and competing with an older aircraft, compared to other installations. 

"We are one of the smaller C-17 units in the Air Force. PACAF (Pacific Air Forces) between Hickam and Elmendorf has 16 C-17s and we're competing against AMC bases with four active duty and four reserve squadrons with fifty plus (aircraft)," said Johnson. "They have a lot more to pick from and to practice with." 

Although Johnson feels his team is at a slight disadvantage, he still said he believes they will do great because, after all, they are in it to win it. 

"I think they'll do well. They've been practicing hard, and it's an opportunity for PACAF -- specifically the 3rd Wing at Elmendorf -- to show the bigger mobility units that we're out here," said Johnson. "We're just as capable as they are, and we're gonna prove it to them."