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Pope Rodeo team arrives in full force

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Jon LaDue
  • 43rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs
POPE AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. --  The 2007 Pope Rodeo team arrived Saturday at McChord Air Force Base, Wash. for the Air Mobility Command international competition held July 22 through 27. 

Pope got off to a strong start after Capt. Nathan Mansfield, C-130 pilot on the aircrew team, arrived just four seconds off the scheduled land time with what the team said they felt was a perfectly executed landing. 

While taxiing from the runway to the parking apron, Pope's pride was evident as the 2007 Pope Rodeo team flag was waved by Maj. Michael Frame, Pope Rodeo deputy team chief, above the aircraft for the inspectors and other teams to see. 

Pope's team members are broken up into six individual units and according to the team chief, incorporate some of the finest Airmen from across the base to represent the following teams: aircrew, aeromedical evacuation, aerial port, joint airdrop inspection, maintenance and security forces. 

Each team will participate in more than 20 events throughout the week. 

Beginning July 24 team scores were posted so team members from every base could see them, but the official overall results and awards will not be presented until the closing ceremonies July 27. 

A lot of practice and effort have gone into this competition; some Pope team members started practicing up to two months ago. 

Airman 1st Class David Heilman, security forces member, said he started practicing with his team June 1. 

During Rodeo security forces team members were tested on three events, including combat weapons, combat tactics and a combat challenge. 

"All we could really practice for was (combat) weapons, because we didn't know what to expect from the other events," said Airman Heilman. 

"We practiced five days a week. (Which) kept us on the same playing field," Airman Heilman said. 

Airman Heilman said he was not worried about winning, just properly executing each event. 

"Basically we were just trying to do everything we've trained for, everything else will take care of itself," he added. 

Some of the other team members, however, were more focused on bringing home trophies. 

Staff Sgt. Trent Blair, joint airdrop inspection team member, is one of two team members in charge of inspecting heavy equipment and container delivery system loads and was able to log about 20 practices before entering into the competition. 

Sergeant Blair said Pope's JAI team has won their specific event the last two trips to Rodeo. His goal was to end Pope's Rodeo history on a positive note and make it three in a row. 

"At Pope, we were inspecting loads in six minutes, where here we had ten minutes. The practices helped out immensely," said Sergeant Blair. 

The teams are not only competing in their individual events, several team members are also competing in a ten person fit-to-fight event. Scores from each event are combined for an overall team score. 

The aircrew which includes two pilots, a flight engineer, navigator, two loadmasters and joint airdrop inspection make up the biggest percentage of the overall team score with 50 percent. Aerial port accounts for 20 percent, maintenance for 12, aeromedical evacuation and security forces for eight percent each and the team fit-to-fight event counts for two percent of the overall team score. 

After a week of hard work and challenging competitions, the Rodeo team will return to Pope July 28. Only after closing ceremonies will the team know just how they finished among the other teams, but one thing for sure is they are returning as a piece of military history - team members for Pope's last AMC Rodeo competition.