British team shoots to top at Defender Challenge 2004

  • Published
  • By Gary Emery
  • Air Force Security Forces Center Public Affairs
LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) --  An eight-person British team took home the top award at the worldwide security forces competition Defender Challenge 2004 held here Oct. 22 to 28.

The Royal Air Force Regiment took first in the grueling fitness challenge event and third in the Sadler Cup tactical exercise. These wins earned them the coveted Defender Challenge Champion trophy. Only three points out of a possible 300 separated the top three teams.

The Air Mobility Command team won the Sadler Cup event, which required teams to find and neutralize a terrorist threat hidden in about 2.5 square miles of rugged terrain. The team’s sharpshooters, Staff Sgt. Bracy Taylor and Airman 1st Class Christopher Weichman from the 92nd Security Forces Squadron at Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash., were the deadliest duo of the competition, using their M-24 sniper rifle and laser range finder to zap every aggressor troop on the playing field. As a result, their team suffered no casualties in the event.

The Coleman Cup, earned by the top shooters in the combat weapons event, went to the federal agents of the Department of Energy. The mission of the DOE agents is to protect nuclear materials and weapons while in storage or transit. Firing the M-4 rifle, M-249 squad automatic weapon and M-240B machine gun, the agents blasted targets at a withering rate.

While Defender Challenge is primarily a team event, one defender rose above all others this year, impressing judges and fellow competitors alike. Second Lt. Benjamin Washburn, the Air Force Space Command team leader, paced his troops to second place in the fitness challenge and Sadler Cup. As a result, the team was only narrowly beaten by the British team.

Lieutenant Washburn, from the 90th SFS at F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo., also placed second in the M-4 rifle individual marksmanship competition and won the chief’s challenge individual obstacle course run. His leadership was recognized with the Royal Air Force Regiment Commandant General’s Award and Chief of Staff Ultimate Warrior Award.

Winners for all events are:

-- Handgun/Shotgun Individual Marksmanship: Senior Airman Matthew Zydiak, Air Education and Training Command.

-- M-249 Automatic Rifle Individual Marksmanship: Agent Mike Miller, DOE.

-- M-4 Rifle Individual Marksmanship: Senior Airman Patrick McGrath, Air Mobility Command.

-- M-240B Machine Gun Team Marksmanship: Staff Sgt. Martin Howard and Airman 1st Class Devlin Stallion, Air Force Materiel Command.

-- Close Precision Engagement Sharpshooter Team Marksmanship: Staff Sgt. Vance Smith and Senior Airman Daniel Romero, AETC.

-- Noncommissioned Officers Association Spirit Award: AFMC.

-- Air Force Sergeants Association Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Award for outstanding enlisted competitor: Staff Sgt. Joe Mays, Air National Guard.

-- Chief’s Challenge for individual obstacle course: Lieutenant Washburn.

-- Sadler Cup: AMC.