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Port Dawgs battle for JB Charleston title

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Rashard Coaxum
  • 315th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

Two aerial port units from here went head to head at the Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina, Reserve Wing mini Port Dawg Challenge over the UTA weekend at the aerial port training facilities here.

The 38th and 81st Aerial Port Squadrons competed in the second annual mini Port Dawg Challenge, which tested their abilities to execute aerial port operations in timed and scored events.

“We’re prepping for the Port Dawg Challenge that’s taking place next week at Dobbins [Air Reserve Base, Georgia], so today we’re going through some of the scenarios that we might face at the actual event,” said Master Sgt. Michael Martin, a load planner with the 38th APS and team chief for the challenge.

“We’ve had three challenging events already to include a joint inspection, where a simulated Army unit came through with various pieces of equipment, a load planning scenario where we load plan pallets to go on aircraft and a pallet build up with three-man teams of individuals who selected cargo, built the cargo pallets and restrained them to make sure the cargo stays safe during flight,” Martin said.

The teams competed side-by-side, simultaneously, in a total of five events that included joint inspections, load planning, an engine-running offload, pallet build ups and a 10k forklift course.

Tech. Sgt. Christopher Girardeau, a load planner with the 81st APS, said that the training for the event has been challenging, but that he knows that the teams are ready to compete at the highest level alongside the Air Force’s other top tier aerial port units.

“We’ve been coming down here for the past six months on UTA’s practicing different events and refreshing our knowledge because we all have to know the different sections of our career fields,” Girardeau said. “We all specialize in one specific part of our career field, but for competitions like this, we have to be ready and proficient in all areas to be successful.”

This Port Dawg Challenge was the second time the units squared off to see who the top unit was, with the 38th APS taking the crown last year, but Martin said opportunities like these are not only about seeing who the best is, but also building teamwork and boosting morale between the units.

“It’s a competition between the squadrons and bragging rights for both of us, but more importantly, it builds esprit de corps in addition to showing off who we are and the skills we have ,” he said.

Girardeau said that in addition to the esprit de corps, the importance of the training and competition is that they equip the units with real world knowledge and experience in how to do their jobs safely and effectively should they be deployed abroad.

“It [the training] is really a good example of how things are in a deployed environment, especially like this where you have people bringing in cargo all the time and you have to do this every day, multiple time a day,” he said. “This is nice to be able to refresh yourself on a lot of different sections of the transportation career field so you can feel comfortable when you get in a deployed location. It’s a fun way to do it.”

As the mini Port Dawg Challenge came to a close, Martin said that he was excited about being selected to be a team chief and participate in this challenge as well as the big Port Dawg Challenge being held at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Georgia, later this month.

He said that he was excited for his team to take their skillsets to the competition so others can see the teamwork principles that Joint Base Charleston can bring to the table for the Air Force and its mission.

“It’s about being able to represent both the 38th [APS] and the Reserve aerial ports and just building a team between us and the 81st [APS],” he said. “I know we always compete against each other, but at the same time we are working toward a common goal.”

“We all work the same job, but we all have different aspects of the job,” he said. “But this reminds us that we can have a good time while we do our jobs.”