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***image1***After 300 hours of physical training, weapons and tactics drills, obstacle courses and combat exercises, the nine-person U.S. Air Forces in Europe Defender Challenge team came home with one silver and two bronze medals at the 2004 Defender Challenge competition at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, in October.
Each U.S. Air Force major command submits a team every year to compete against each other and teams from the United Kingdom Royal Air Force Regiment and the U.S. Department of Energy in five events, said Capt. Chris DeGuelle, Defender Challenge coach from USAFE headquarters.
Varying challenges of tactics, shooting and physical fitness make up the bulk of the competition, but combat weapons was the pinnacle event for the USAFE team.
“A regimented training plan was established to build off the competitors’ basic marksmanship fundamentals,” said Staff Sgt. Jason Wood, USAFE combat arms trainer. “We then took those basic fundamentals and added stressors to firing such as noise, physical fitness drills and various mental challenges.”
Senior Airman Dustin McPhillips, 568th Security Forces Squadron at Ramstein, and Senior Airman Robert Crenshaw, 48th Security Forces Squadron at Royal Air Forces Lakenheath, took the silver medal for firing the M-240B machine gun with precision and accuracy.
“The two-person team is made up of a spotter and shooter, and both are required to fire,” said Captain DeGuelle.
Airmen 1st Class Jason Johnston and Adam Dermish, 48th SFS members, grabbed the bronze medal for the M-24 sniper weapons system, hitting six-second pop-up targets at 1100 meters.
“The sharp shooting was the toughest part of the competition,” said Airman Dermish.
Many hours were spent rehearsing magazine changes, trigger pull, reloads, transition drills and immediate actions so that these actions would become second nature to the competitors during the competition, said Sergeant Wood. “Thousands of rounds were fired per person so that we could break any bad habits and establish new and efficient techniques.”
***image2***The new techniques paid off when Senior Airman Gregory Davidson, 48th SFS, pegged fourth place in the M-249 automatic rifle.
There were no placements by the USAFE team in the handgun shooting competition but “they were not intimidated,” said Airman Johnston.
Other challenge events were the physical fitness contests, team and individual. The USAFE team triumphed with a bronze medal by bounding over 21 obstacles through a 1.5-mile run on the first day of competition. The team, Airmen McPhillips, Crenshaw, Johnston and Senior Airman Christopher Clawson, 39th Security Forces Squadron out of Incirlik, beat 12 other teams.
To build team cohesiveness, morale and skills, the defenders spent three weeks in the heat of Fort Huachuca, Ariz., pounding pavement at 5 a.m. every morning. Weekends were filled with shooting competitions against professional shooters, federal agents and local law enforcement officers to prepare the competitors for the stresses of competition.
Team captain, Senior Master Sgt. Glynn Davis, 568th SFS, said the team of coaches prepared them for every challenge they faced during the competition.
“I’m proud of the team’s efforts during training and the competition,” he said. “They trained hard and showed a lot of heart during the intense competition, and the training provided by the U.S. Air Force security forces cadre was some of the best in my 20 plus years of service.”
