Firehowk CHALLENGE

***image1***Blisters, bruises and even a hernia are a testament to the mettle of more than 50 Tactical Air Command and Control Specialists at the 2nd Air Support Operations Squadron in Würzburg.
The controllers participated in the first ever “Firehawk Challenge,” a qualifying event for the Lightning Challenge this fall at Hurlburt Field, Fla. and a two-day competition that checked specialists’ physical and mental tenacity May 23 and 24.

“These Airmen were beat down physically and mentally but you could see enthusiasm, esprit de corps that we didn’t even expect,” said Senior Master Sgt. Russell Carpenter, 2nd ASOS superintendent.

Firehawk TACCS are responsible for integrating air power to support ground commanders they are aligned to. They’re permanently stationed with the U.S. Army and typically spend their entire careers at Army installations.

“We’re out there with Army, telling the aircraft where to drop the bombs,” said Lt. Col. Joseph Dill, 2nd ASOS commander. “TACCS know they have to do more, and they played up and met the challenges head on.”

Day one
At 7 a.m., the 54 participants began a grueling 12-mile Ruck March, weighed down with 45-pound packs. The best time came in at two hours, 35 minutes. The blisters some of the competitors developed during the march later led to a medic-recommended disqualification.

“These guys were begging to stay in – it meant a lot to them to compete,” said Sergeant Carpenter.
By noon many specialists started the Close Air Support exam, which took place immediately after the march and delved into specialists’ knowledge of CAS scenarios, terminology, calls for fire and other job-related skills.

The design of the challenge – a physically demanding event followed by a job-skills shake down – set the pace for the rest of the challenge and was a deliberate move on the part of the challenge’s designers, staff sergeants Shane Hobrecht and Justin Keogh.

“I literally felt like a blob of goo going into that test,” said Staff Sgt. John Rusch, 2nd ASOS TACCS. “I could barely think, I was so tired, but I had to suck it up and push on.”

At 2:30 p.m., the participants began an Army-standard PT test. Weary specialists did their best to stay in the game.

“We found out we had one troop with a hernia, as he was practically crying as he did the sit ups – he refused to quit,” said Sergeant Carpenter. “The medic had to finally disqualify him.”

The fourth event of the day was a weapons assembly test, which put M-4 carbine and M-9 millimeter pistol in the bone-tired hands of competitors.

***image2***Assembly, a seemingly simple task for the specialists, proved to be difficult, if not impossible.
“I did great with the M-4 and M-9 – assembled them in a few minutes – but I couldn’t get the nine-mil clip,” said Sergeant Rusch. “All I had to do was push the button and slide, and I just couldn’t get it. I was furious and yelling, pounding the table with frustration.”

From 7:30 to 9 p.m., participants took the Global Position Satellite exam, which required participants to find a series of points, headings and distances, and also tested their GPS knowledge.
After, the participants were dismissed to their Army barrack beds and meals, ready to eat dinners.

Day two
The land navigation event, which began at 7 a.m., required competitors to navigate their way to certain points in a 10-digit military grid reference system format. The points the furthest away had the highest values.

“We’re pretty good at navigation,” said Sergeant Rusch. “But when you got to a point and didn’t see the card you were supposed to pick up because it was in the tree above you, you felt plain dumb.”

The second event was a communications competition, an event that most participants “limped” to. It challenged the specialists to take a pallet, containing material they use to communicate with the aircraft, and assemble and use it. “We were hurting through this one,” said one participant. “When you busted (the time limit) you were still sitting there, stubbornly protesting, ‘no, I can do this!’”

By 3:30 p.m. the specialists were making their way though the obstacle course at Camp Robertson. The course was recently built to support an Air Assault class, and was considered one of the most challenging events of the competition, said Colonel Dill.

At 6:30 p.m., a surprise event was revealed as a test of TACCS ability to plot the location of five Humvees on the horizon using a map, compass and Mark-VII laser target locator.

The final event was a visual recognition test and an Army symbology test. The visual test showed slides of different potential targets; and had to ID of what they saw, for example a M1-A1 tank (friendly) versus a T-72 tank. The symbology exam ensured specialists knew the difference between such symbols as infantry or mechanized infantry, which could determine the kind of support specialists would call for in a combat situation.

“The challenges highlighted what thing I normally don’t think about – like how quickly I need to perform certain jobs,” said Airman 1st Class Daniel Strom, 2nd ASOS TACCS.

“It showed me where I was at, and where I needed to be,” said Airman 1st Class Sonny Chivers.
Many competitors were, indeed, where they needed to be. Staff sergeants Michael Huffman and John Campbell took first in the challenge. Second place went to staff sergeants Jared Shellhorn and Darrel Demotta and third went to Staff Sergeant John Rusch and Senior Airman Derek Wilson. Because of ongoing deployments, the first-place winners may not be the ones to attend the lightning challenge, but the attendees will be picked from the team and individual winners.