Kadena Airmen hone their skills during annual Turkey Shoot

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Kenya Shiloh
  • 18th Wing Public Affairs
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan --  Kadena Airmen sharpened their operational edge through internal competition during the annual Kadena Turkey Shoot held March 8-11.
 
Airmen from fighter, tanker, maintenance and airborne command and control squadrons, along with intelligence and weather personnel and soldiers from the Army's 1-1 Air Defense Artillery Battalion, tested their combat capabilities in simulated war-fighting scenarios over the course of the four-day competition.

"The Turkey Shoot is an Air Force tradition that goes back to the early days of tactical aviation," said Maj. Nicholas Rutgers, this year's 18th Wing Turkey Shoot coordinator. "The 18th Wing Turkey Shoot program this year was intended to recognize superior weapons system employment and sustainment by giving various units challenging tactical problems to solve."

One of the employment challenges required aircraft maintenance units to load a weapon on to an aircraft as quickly and safely as possible, with no technical order violations. For example, if a crew member sustained injury, caused the munition to malfunction or neglected to connect the umbilical to the launcher, then that crew was charged with a "failed load" and awarded no points.

"As one of the weapons load evaluators, I watch each team's load and write down any discrepancies that occur," said Tech. Sgt. Nathan Best, 18th Maintenance Operations Squadron. "We also perform a composite tool box and give each team a written test. The team with the most points wins the competition."

Once the jets were ready for "combat," pilots from the 44th and 67th Fighter Squadrons competed for top offensive- and defensive-counter-air awards as well as air combat maneuvering, amongst other things. The scores from these events will determine the top fighter squadron, to be announced Friday, March 19.

According to Capt. Mike Jones, the coordinator for this year's fighter events, a little friendly squadron-to-squadron competition keeps pilots sharp.

"Honing the skills tested during the Turkey Shoot prepares pilots for real-world contingencies by testing them on nearly all of the missions they fly and adding some simulated combat stress to their daily training," Capt. Jones said.

There to help the fighters with combat training were aircraft from the 961st Airborne Air Control Squadron and the 909th Air Refueling Squadron. The 18th Operations Support Squadron Weather Flight provided real-time weather forecasting from the ground.

"Our goal in the Turkey Shoot this year was to identify the best weather technician in airfield services and the mission services elements," said Tech. Sgt. Barry Lott, 18th OSS weather technician and Turkey Shoot weather coordinator.

Sergeant Lott believes that holding competitions like the Turkey Shoot offers forecasters an opportunity to refresh and enhance job performance skills. He noted that these skills are of special import because military weather technicians are often the only weather service operating at deployment locations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"The Turkey Shoot teaches the inexperienced forecasters the skills necessary to operate in the deployed environment while it helps to reinforce and refresh more experienced forecasters on the same skills," Sergeant Lott said.

While each unit had specific goals in mind for this year's competition and fostered unit espirit de corps, Major Rutgers stressed that the Turkey Shoot showcased Kadena's "One Team, One Fight" concept and demonstrated Kadena's ability to deliver unmatched combat airpower.