Airmen test their mettle during Combat Endurance Challenge

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Christopher Love
  • 374th Airlift Wing/Public Affairs
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan --  Eight teams of U.S. Air Force Airmen and one team from the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force competed in the third annual Combat Endurance Challenge here Oct. 1 at the Yokota High School football field to raise funds for the National September 11 Memorial.

At just over three miles, the competition consisted of 10 events completed in succession, to include a humvee push, ranger push-ups and litter carry, with the victory going those with the lowest total time.

To add to the challenge, contestants were required to wear flack vests throughout the competition hosted by the 730th Air Mobility Squadron.

"The CEC started off as just a squadron event," said Master Sgt. Kenneth Morain, 730th AMS superintendent of combat readiness and this year's CEC chairman. "Last year we decided to open it up to the base. I think we're definitely going to continue to do that."

Morain regarded this year's event as a success, raising $1,700 for the memorial at ground zero.

"I think any time you can raise a dollar for something like this, it's worth the cost," he said.

This year's first place finish went to the 374th Medical Group, whose leader, Maj. (Dr.) Patrick Bull, an orthopedic surgeon with the 374th Medical Surgical Squadron, led the team to its second first-place prize in as many years.

This group of doctors and medical personnel took the preparations for this event quite seriously.

"We've been training for about two months," said Bull. "On the weekends, out on the flight line, in our gear, with a 70-pound rucksack on, running around in the heat, with our body armor on. . . . That's how we won last year."

Yet even after such preparation, one event in particular still posed a formidable challenge for this team leader.

"The low crawl--oh it hurts!" the major said. "It is just painful. You get down on the ground and start crawling, and it creates fatigue that you're just not prepared for.

"I remember last year, laying in the low crawl and thinking, 'I'm not going to finish.' That's how defeating it was mentally."

Grueling as it might be for the competitors, the low crawl proved most entertaining for one spectator.

"I like the low crawl the best," said Staff Sgt. Zach Edwards, 374th Maintenance Squadron propulsion flight aerospace propulsion craftsman. "You're pretty much just competing against yourself."

Edwards, who underwent a small endurance challenge of his own as he carried his child back and forth across the field, came out early Saturday morning to support his fellow Airmen from the prop shop.

"It's great weather for the event, and it's a great cause," he said. "This is probably one of the most exciting things I've done since I've been here."