6th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs

Story by Staff Sgt. Joseph Swafford

Service members from MacDill AFB were joined by Tampa Bay Buccaneer players and cheerleaders to take on troops deployed to Qatar and Iraq in a Pro vs. GI Joe video game competition, Sept. 29, at One Buc Place, the Bucs training facility in Tampa.

The competition was made possible by non-profit support organizations Pro vs. GI Joe and the Uniformed Services Organization in an effort to provide the troops with a much needed break from the daily stresses of a deployment.

The concept behind Pro vs. GI Joe is to provide troops serving all over the world with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take on their favorite professional athlete or celebrity in heated head-to-head video game competitions online and in person.

The deployed troops were surprisingly welcomed by their family members that came to One Buc Place to cheer them on in the competition and were able to get some quality time for one-on-one conversations with their families through web chatting.

For the troops at MacDill the opportunity to spend a couple of hours with the professional athletes getting autographs and competing in video game competitions was priceless.

"This experience was great, you get to meet the NFL players," said Senior Airman Scott Larson, 6th Communications Squadron installation spectrum manager. "You get to see they are real people and have a good time with them, joke around and do normal things that they probably don't get to do on an everyday basis."

Buc players also benefited from the experience as they were able to show the troops how much their service to the country is appreciated.

"It feels great," said Josh Johnson, Tampa Bay Bucs quarterback. "It is a way for me to show my appreciation for what everybody overseas is doing to allow me to live in a free country and I am very appreciative of that."

At times the competition was intense with the troops winning at "Rock Star Smash Hits" and "Call of Duty 4; Modern Warfare," while the professional athletes finished strong by winning at "Madden 2010."

After losing to the troops early on in the competition Johnson had this to say. "It's been a great experience to be in competition with them and see them with smiles on their faces and us going at it, they are winning right now but we will get them later, it's been great so far."

The two hour event flew by quickly and in the end Pro vs. GI Joe lived up to its motto of doin' a little for those who do a lot.

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