Friday, August 28, 2015

TOP STORY >> Turkey shoot: Squadrons battle for bragging rights

By Senior Airman Kaylee Clark and Senior Airman Harry Brexel
19th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

Airmen from the 714th Training Squadron, 48th Airlift Squadron and 62nd Airlift Squadron squared off for a “Turkey Shoot” competition Aug. 20 testing their airdrop expertise in a series of competition events.

The annual local combat airlift pitted the rivals against one another in timed events including several airdrops, assault landings and the loading of Humvees. Time of arrival, drop scores and landing scores were calculated to determine an overall a winner.  Competing aircrews were given details about the event approximately 24 hours prior to the start. 

The 62nd AS took the award for the best time of arrival and time on-target. The 48th AS achieved closest assault landing on target and the fastest loading of a Humvee. The 714th TRS landed the best drop score.

“Time to targets and on-call airdrops to a drop zone are things we are doing in real world operations like Africa or Afghanistan,” said Maj. Brad Buinicky, 48th Airlift Squadron assistant director of operations, a Turkey Shoot umpire.  “The real spirit of these competitions is a desire for us to not only develop ourselves, but develop our community as well.

I thought that there was very good grading criteria [for this event], because these things matter in real-world operations,” he said.

The initial air drop on the agenda was over the Fort Chaffee Drop Zone and then crews flew to the All-American Landing Zone/Drop Zone at Camp Robinson, Arkansas. 

An umpire was placed on each aircraft with the crewmembers to grade their performances. Level of experience dictates the umpire selection, their judgement is used to oversee operations. 


The 48th AS took home bragging rights while the 62nd AS and 714th TRS have their sights set toward next year’s victory.  

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