Aerial port squadron team makes strong showing at Reserve 'rodeo'

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Zach Jacobs
  • 507th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  "These guys are the cream of the crop," said Senior Master Sgt. Michael D. Knight.

The "guys" in question were Reserve Airmen from the 72nd Aerial Port Squadron here on Tinker Air Force Base.

After a two-day-long "Port Dawg" Challenge held at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Ga., Knight had plenty of reasons to say that about his Airmen.

Knight said the 72nd team won two out of eleven events at the competition, and was one of two teams to win two events.

According to Knight, the squadron's air terminal operations center superintendent, when the competition was announced nearly six months ago, the squadron's senior leadership decided to send a team, but there was a slight problem at the time.

"Several members of our squadron were down range," said Knight, adding that two of the team members were deployed to Combined Air and Space Operations Center, Southwest Asia. Thus, there was little time to practice here at Tinker for the competition.

"We only practiced for one afternoon for the entire competition," said Knight.

However, Knight said that the time spent "down range" played a major role in the team taking home awards. And that experience paid off.

The team members won the cargo-in-transit visibility, or Cargo-ITV, and Joint Inspection events, both of which required real-world know-how in which to excel.

"A big part of winning those events was due to real-world experience the team members had," said Knight. "They literally came off their (deployment) leave and reconstitution and came to the competition."

"This testifies to the fact that the training and the job knowledge from a deployment showed," said Knight.

The Joint Inspection event was particularly difficult, said Knight, due to the team only being able to use two weight scales instead of the normal four or even six, to perform.

Officials named the 27th Aerial Port Squadron , from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport Air Reserve Station, as the "top dawgs" for the competition.

Knight said there should be another Reserve aerial port competition in two years.

And Knight said the 72nd APS will send another team to it.