Competitors battle ants and obstacles on Rodeo course

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Ashley DiFalco
  • Rodeo Public Affairs
MCCHORD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. (AFPN) --  One hundred million ants, 800 possible points, 150 pounds to carry, 13 umpires, eight obstacles, five teams, two visiting generals, and one endurance course … priceless.

Participants in the aeromedical evacuation endurance course event may be new to Rodeo, but they took the challenge head-on and made it look easy.

The fastest team to cross the finish line during the June 20 event was the 86th Airlift Wing from Ramstein Air Base, Germany, with a time of 6 minutes, 22 seconds.

A quick finish and a solid performance was exactly what the Ramstein team trained for.

“We have been practicing almost every day,” said Staff Sgt. William Kellagher. “We were even practicing this week in the parking lot without a litter. We wanted to make sure we had the calls down and were prepared for today.”

Teams started off the competition with an untimed eight-minute warm-up hike. The clocks were turned on, however, when they reached the starting point. Carrying a 150-pound “sandbag man” in a litter, they soon encountered an uphill climb, a low-crawl portion, short and high walls to scale, rough terrain and a long trench to contend with.

“The trench was the hardest part for us,” said Staff Sgt. David Denton from the 18th Air Wing at Kadena Air Base, Japan.

Teams were scored on how fast they completed the course, followed commands, cleared an obstacle and handled the patient.