MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL AIR RESERVE STATION, MINN -- For the second year in a row the 934th Operations Group participated in the OG Rodeo, a fast-paced competition involving multiple organizations flexing their skills and simulating real-world scenarios.
Participating organizations such as the 96th Airlift Squadron, 934th Operation Support Squadron, the Intelligence Office, Life Support, the Aerial Port and the Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron all add their respective skills to the competition to help aircrew complete each scenario first in an accurate and timely fashion.
Lt. Col. Casey Dodds, 96th Airlift Squadron commander said, “The biggest thing in coordinating an event like this is getting all the other base agencies involved.”
This year the addition of assault landings in the dirt at the Young Tactical Landing Site at Ft. McCoy, Wisc., allowed for the participation of crash/fire rescue support.
According to Dodds, competing priorities during last year’s rodeo prevented the inclusion of the crash/fire rescue portion of the competition.
“This year we had enough lead time and we were in a little bit different part of the year, where we were able to coordinate for some support from the crash/fire folks to borrow one of the fire trucks from Volk Field, Wis. and allow us to actually get the aircraft into the dirt,” said Dodds. “That was a huge change from last year’s rodeo.”
In this year’s engagement, the teams faced events that included combat off-loading cargo, a bundle drop, “backing” the aircraft within 25 feet of a marker and the coordinated assault landing on, and take-off from, an unimproved runway.
Safety is a key component when judging the competition and the team with the highest final score wins the “Viking Hammer” of the Global Vikings.
A bonus challenge was included along the route of this year’s flight path to allow participants extra points.
“They had some bonus points for visually identifying a corn maze that was near the flight,” said Dodds. “In previous years if you looked at Google Earth it was the shape of Wisconsin.”
This year the corn maze was in a different shape and those teams that correctly identified the shape as “Goldy the Gopher,” the official macot of the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team, won the extra points.
"Events like this week's Rodeo are challenging and rewarding for all involved,” said Lt. Col. Dennis Mishler, 934th Airlift Wing chief of safety. “As aircrew, we get the opportunity to get valuable training in our primary duties. We've had to think quickly and put our skills to the test which, in a competitive organization like ours, also builds comradery."