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Photo essay: Preparations for Air Mobility Rodeo 2011 continue

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Scott T. Sturkol
  • Air Mobility Rodeo 2011 Public Affairs
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. --  Workers have been busy preparing one of the hangars here for operations for Air Mobility Rodeo 2011 as Joint Base Lewis-McChord is serving as the host base for the international air mobility competition.

Air Mobility Rodeo 2011, sponsored by the Air Mobility Command, is the Mobility Air Force's (MAF) readiness competition. This competition focuses on improving our worldwide air mobility forces' professional core abilities. Air Mobility 2011 will be held at McChord Field, Wash., from July 24 to 29, 2011.

According to the Rodeo 2011 fact sheet, more than 150 teams and 3,000 people from the Air Force, and Air Force Reserve, as well as allied nations, are expected to participate. The last biennial competition took place in July 2009 -- also at McChord.

Additionally, the fact sheet shows that in October 1956, 13 troop carrier wings of the Continental Air Command, the Air Force Reserve Command's predecessor, sent crews to participate in a "Reserve Troop Carrier Rodeo" at Bakalar Air Force Base, Ind.. The first airdrop competition for units of the active-duty force occurred in April 1962, when the Military Air Transport Service held a MATS-wide Rodeo at Scott AFB, Illinois.

The 1962 competition was a combat skills competition designed to develop and improve techniques/procedures while enhancing air mobility operations, and promoting esprit de corps. In 1979, Rodeo was expanded to include our international air mobility partners. Rodeo tests the flight and ground skills of aircrews as well as the related skills of special tactics, security forces, aerial port operations, aeromedical evacuation, and maintenance team members. It also provides "valuable joint and combined training for all participants."