AVON PARK AIR FORCE RANGE, Fla. --
Capitalizing on a rare opportunity, 17 squadrons from 20 operating locations converged on Avon Park Air Force Range, Fla., to participate in the inaugural Spartan Warrior May 11-15.
More than 200 Airmen from the 93d Air Ground Operations Wing, comprised of highly-trained ground combat forces who operate from locations across the United States, participated in Spartan Warrior, a combined wing combat readiness inspection and battlefield Airmen competition.
"This is one of our few opportunities to get the wing in one spot," said U.S. Air Force Col. Joseph Locke, 93d AGOW commander. "When we can get everybody together to train, test our readiness and share great ideas it allows us to collectively improve our processes and build camaraderie at the same time. Ultimately, (Spartan Warrior) helps our squadrons come together as a team and better prepare for the next tasking.
"Probably the best part is it's a chance for us to get all of our Air Force specialties involved ... from the front line professionals to our support personnel," Locke added. "Getting them here helps build the whole-team concept for the AGOW."
As an added benefit to deploying nearly 10 percent of the 93d AGOW, Spartan Warrior allows inspection teams to look at their overall capability to rapidly deploy expeditionary forces from each of its squadrons.
Locke added, "Once we're here, we put them through the mobility processing line and check all of their equipment before putting them through the paces on our traditional battlefield Airmen competition."
The battlefield Airmen competition was two full days of events focusing on expeditionary Airmen skills and functional-area expertise.
The competition's first day began with an early-morning ruck march followed by a series of events including shooting targets, assembly and disassembly of weapons systems, self-aid and buddy care and an obstacle course. Cadre designed each event to test the teams' expeditionary skills and knowledge under pressure.
"It started off the first day with a four-mile ruck march and we just wanted to get it over with," said Senior Airman Giovan Vitale, 14th Air Support Operations Squadron joint terminal air controller. "After that, we progressively got more competitive throughout the week. We saw everyone else doing better than us TACPs and we wanted to do a little bit better than (them)."
Vitale followed up to say the event was a great experience and he and his team managed to have fun while helping to push each other to the end.
"Spartan Warrior took the best of everybody," he said. "We all have our strengths and weaknesses and we (each) had to utilize them in this competition."
Fireteams were awarded for the best performances within each event, and the 19th ASOS was named the overall winning squadron.