Photo By Tech. Sgt. Tristan Viglianco | An Airman fastens a fin on a munition during the first-ever Air Force Combat...... read more read more
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The 9th Munitions Squadron held the first-ever Air Force Combat Operations Competition (AFCOCOMP) June 12-14, 2018, here.
AFCOCOMP is a unique munitions building competition designed to test participants on all of the aspects used by ammo troops in wartime operations.
“We have seven different components we are going to be testing over the course of three days,” said Maj. Daniel Brady, 9th Munitions Squadron commander, “These readiness skill events are testing the teams on small and big bomb technical building proficiency, accountability, readiness, forward deployments, and adaptive basing concepts.”
ACOCOMP was created to test readiness capabilities to ammo troops across the career field.
“We have seven teams and we have them coming from Anderson Air Force Base, Guam; Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany; Seymour-Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina; Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico; Luke Air Force Base, Arizona; Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada; and Dyess Air Force Base, Texas,” said Master Sgt. Danielle Spurlock, 9th MUNS munitions flight chief. “Each team consists of 10 ammo troops which range from 3-levels, 5-levels, and 7-levels.”
According to Spurlock, the different events are designed to simulate a deployed environment and scored by time, technical accuracy and safety.
“The purpose of the competition is to increase combat readiness throughout our career field through competition,” Spurlock said. “Ammo is known for a tight-knit community, so bringing our community together and adding competition ups the ante.”
The 9th MUNS already has a profound impact on the readiness of the career field because they oversee the Air Force Combat Ammunition Center, but Brady believe this competition could further said impact.
“We are the focal point of the ammo community when it comes to readiness and contingency training, but we wanted to step our game up,” Brady said. “We thought this could be a good way to blend readiness training and bring the community together.”
Crowning the Champs
“The competition is stiff, there are a lot of good teams here and everyone is at the top of their game,” said Master Sgt. Johnathan Keehart, 56th Equipment Maintenance Squadron munitions control NCO in charge at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona. “When we get into the events there are a lot of curve balls thrown at us whether it be equipment or munitions we are not used to.”
The Holloman ammo team won the event and was presented with the Sierra Trophy, which will be on display at the 9th MUNS. They also received a travelling trophy to be displayed at their home, the 49th Maintenance Squadron, until next year.
“The entire munitions community has been 100 percent behind what we are doing,” Brady said. “We have a lot of great Airmen across the Air Force and this is a perfect way to show off their skill sets. I hope it is a ‘Field of Dreams’ moment where we built it and everyone wants to come to it.”
Story was originally posted to the Beale AFB website on June 14, 2018 and may be found at https://www.beale.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1550982/bombs-away-air-force-combat-operations-competition/
| Date Taken: | 06.14.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 06.18.2018 13:20 |
| Story ID: | 281359 |
| Location: | BEALE AIR FORCE BASE, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 72 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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