90th Operations Group Global Strike Challenge team talks about competition

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Mike Tryon
  • 90th Missile Wing Public Affairs
F. E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, WYO. --  The 90th Operations Group, an Air Force Global Strike Command unit, recently competed in the Command's Global Strike Challenge here at F. E. Warren.

The selection process for the competition took place back in July with nearly half of the crewmembers assigned to the 90th Operations Group competing against each other for the chance to be a part of this year's competition.

The operators started by taking a 50-question test covering the Minuteman III weapon system, cryptographic code handling and emergency war order procedures, said Capt. Nathan Bischoping, 90th Operations Support Squadron. The test was written by Capt. Josh Henderson, 90th OSS and a former missile competition competitor, he added.

"Winning this competition was an amazing experience," Captain Henderson said of winning a previous competition. "I wanted to use what I learned from prepping for the Air Force Space Command's Guardian Challenge campaign and competition ride a few years ago, and craft something that would get us started in our effort to select the best of the best here for Global Strike Challenge."

"It was beneficial for all of us to have Captain Henderson write this test," said Capt. David Bull, the 320th Missile Squadron competition commander currently assigned to the 90th Operations Group. "The test was different than normal tests we're given, in the fact that this one was not only timed, but was 'closed reference' as well."

Upon completion of the written test, Lt. Col. Heidi Paulson and Capt. Chad Redwine, both from the 320th MS and the 2010 90th Missile Wing operations project officers, conducted 60 minute evaluations to the competitors to determine who the top three commanders and top three deputies would be for the competition, said Captain Bischoping.

"I have never seen such hard-fought competition in each squadron," Colonel Paulson said. "We ran 18 individuals through solo, hour-long rides, and it was impressive how everyone stepped up their game. My hat goes off to them."

After the commanders, deputies, teams, alternates and trainers were announced back in July, they had to wait to officially begin their phase-one training until July 29, Captain Bischoping said.

It wasn't until phase-two began Aug. 14 that the operations team could start training in the Missile Procedure Trainer, he added.

"The biggest difference in training for this than what we do for our day-to-day training is we started at 3:30 a.m.," Captain Bull said. "We did this so we wouldn't interfere too much with the rest of the wing's operations and training."

"We would each go through a two-hour missile procedure training ride and had several scenarios thrown at us during it," he added. "While one team was in the trainer, the others were there watching so they could help evaluate the teams on how they did."

Having someone else watching on helps the team as a whole, Captain Bull added.

"You can tell right away while you're going through your checklist(s) in the trainer if something isn't going right," Captain Bull said. "But, having other people there observing helps everyone become more aware of potential problems later on."

Early last month, the operations team got the chance to put their training to the test when they officially competed and were evaluated by the evaluators from 20th Air Force.

"The competition itself was interesting," Captain Bull said. "The three teams were kept separate throughout the whole competition day, just so we couldn't give each other a 'head's up' on what the other teams could face."

"We also signed forms stating what aspects of the competition we can talk about at what time," he added. "That's so someone doesn't accidentally give information to another wing about what to expect."

"The hardest part about not being able to talk about anything is we didn't even get debriefed when we were done," Captain Bull said. "We have to wait for the score posting in November to see how well we did."

The operations team and the rest of the Mighty Ninety won't find out the results of how they performed, until the score posting takes place at Barksdale Air Force Base, La. between Nov. 16 and 18.

"I felt like we caught a lot of the different things they threw at us," Captain Bull said. "And I'm confident we did well; however, there is still some fear of the unknown."

"Everyone from leadership down to the individual teams was willing to put in the hours necessary for us to bring home the Blanchard Trophy," he added.