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‘Devil Dogs’ vie for top air mobility flying award at Rodeo

  • Published
  • By Senior Master Sgt. Matthew Proietti
  • Air Mobility Rodeo 2007 Public Affairs
MCCHORD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. --  Waiting for the opening ceremony of Air Mobility Rodeo 2007 to begin here Sunday, restless troops started a "wave," the time-killing diversion practiced by crowds at sporting stadiums nationwide. It made its way through most of the 2,500 participants before stopping cold when it reached a group of U.S. Marines, who stood firm at parade rest.

Competing in the historical U.S. Air Force contest, the Marines are members of Marine Air Refueler Transport Squadrons 234, 352 and 452, C-130 Hercules aircraft units based in, respectively, Fort Worth, Texas; Miramar, Calif.; and Newburgh, N.Y. Also taking part is a non-flying squad from II Marine Expeditionary Force, Cherry Point, N.C., that won the top prize in the joint inspection of cargo rigging Wednesday.

The competition tests the flight and ground skills of aircrews and related talents of special tactics, security forces, aerial port operations, aeromedical evacuation and maintenance team members. It is sponsored by the Air Force's Air Mobility Command, which is headquartered at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., and oversees the service's airlift, refueling and aeromedical evacuation missions.

This Rodeo is the largest in history with more than 50 U.S. and international teams. Observers from 25 other countries are here, too. Historically a biannual event, it was last held in 2005 after a 5-year break prompted by an increase in operations tempo in support of the Global War on Terror.

Pilot Lt. Col. Doug Stumpf, a Marine Corps Reservist from Texas, said he was delighted to see the array of C-130 tail markings that denote an aircraft's unit and has enjoyed his first time at the Rodeo.

"It's always a challenge to try something different," said Colonel Stumpf, a civilian pilot for a commercial airline. "We enjoy competing against the Air Force and ourselves."

He said he was awed by the size of the event, but disappointed that it's not longer to offer more flying time to crews. The event started Sunday and ends Friday with four days of flying, during which crews complete two day missions and a night flight. Tasks include low-level airdrop, heavy equipment airdrop and combat offload events. Aircrews are graded by two umpires who monitor flight deck and loadmaster operations.

The standard Marine Corps C-130 aircrew consists of a pilot, co-pilot, navigator, flight engineer, first mechanic and two loadmasters. Colonel Stumpf's team prepared for the Rodeo by training together for two weeks in El Centro, Calif.

Though the Marines competing here were new to Rodeo, they are experienced in wartime flying during deployments where they accomplished a wider range of tasks than most C-130 crews. In addition to airlift and airdrop missions, Marines fly air refueling sorties and even transfer fuel to ground vehicles via special bladders when no other option is available.

"We can take off one day and do an airdrop, and the next do an air refueling mission, then on the way back do an airlift flight," said Staff Sgt. Christopher A. Krzyzak, a loadmaster. "We do it all. We've landed on highways in Iraq to refuel tanks."

When each day's Rodeo events are done, competitors retreat to a neighborhood of team tents on a knoll overlooking the bustling McChord AFB flightline. They rest and trade unit pins with their rivals for the week. The Marines swap something else: insults with other Corps teams even though they readily help each other understand the finer differences between how they normally operate and the more stringent Rodeo standard.

Competitors in this tent city socialize while talking about the day's successes and failures. Sergeant Krzyzak lamented strong wind that detracted from his crew's performance in its early Rodeo flights, but took solace that Marine teams captured two of the top three places in a fitness portion of the competition.

"We haven't flown that well, but we can run," he said.