Photo By Staff Sgt. Valerie Halbert | The Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Security Forces team won the Pacific Air Forces...... read more read more
Subscribe
Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson’s Security Forces team brought home the win after competing in the Pacific Air Forces Advanced Combat Skills Assessment hosted in Guam, Sept. 25 to 29, 2016.
The team won first in the mental and physical challenge event and took home the overall win against 10 other teams throughout PACAF. The competition incorporated various physical challenges as well as tactics, weapons, the Marine Corps combat fitness test, and a military working dog competition.
Training began 30 days prior to the competition and involved many hours of team bonding.
“I encouraged these folks to spend as much time together as possible,” said Senior Master Sgt. Eric Hall, 673d Security Forces Squadron superintendent. “The more time spent together the more they could get to know each other before the competition.”
The team consisted of Tech. Sgt. Barry Fairbanks, Tech. Sgt. Joshua Heffley, Air Force Staff Sgt. Zachary Fredrick, Senior Airman Christopher Bonham, and Senior Airman Paige Goodrich, all assigned to the 673d SFS, and Army Staff Sgt. Matthew Mobley, assigned to the 545th Military Police Detachment, 17th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, U.S. Army Alaska.
Many of the team members agreed preparation and practice was the key to their win.
“We all had a pretty solid knowledge of what we had to do once we got out there and it was just a matter of sharpening the skills we already had,” Heffley said. “We constantly looked for more [practice] with everything and every bit of downtime was used for more training.”
During the competition everything was calculated and thought about precisely before heading out for each event, Mobley said. With critical thinking as their first step, the team was well on their way to bringing home the win, he continued.
Though the team practiced for many scenarios, there was one thing they couldn’t prepare for.
“The biggest obstacle we had to overcome was the heat since we were coming from a northern base,” Mobley said. “The competition was fun and we worked together really well but the heat was definitely a huge factor.”
The team took home bragging rights for a year, but each member gained insight about themselves to last a lifetime.
“You have absolutely no idea what your body can do and your mind is your worst enemy when it comes to physically demanding things,” Hall said.
This experience taught the team to push themselves to the limit and go that extra mile, Hall continued.
“I learned to not underestimate the strengths of other people,” Heffley said. “A lot of times you may find that you think you know all the answers and you can do everything yourself but when you learn to rely on your team it starts to relieve a lot of stress.”
With the trophy resting safely at home, the team jumped right back into protecting the JBER community and awaits next year’s showdown.
| Date Taken: | 10.17.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 10.18.2016 17:37 |
| Story ID: | 212315 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, AK, US |
| Web Views: | 94 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, JBER SFS team brings home the win, by SSgt Valerie Halbert, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT