Turkey Shoot determines Tyndall's best

Published Nov. 9, 2006
By Chrissy Cuttita
325th Fighter Wing Public Affairs

TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- Second consecutive victory for Boneheads in wing-wide competition

Imagine competing in the 325th Fighter Wing Turkey Shoot to be the best organization relying on crew chiefs to maintain jets flawlessly, weapons loaders to securely arm jets, pilots to fly the mission using precise perfection, accurate information from air battle managers who monitor the airspace and intelligence officers who create challenging real time war-like scenarios.

Now, imagine competing for top team honors and winning two years in a row.

To do that, you'd have to be a "Bonehead."

"We in the 95th Fighter Squadron made this a priority and the officer and NCO in charge of the 95th Aircraft Maintenance Unit made this a priority," said Lt. Col. Bill Routt, 95th FS commander. "Once that happened, the people made this their priority and pushed with even more effort. The exertion of those participating, and even those not, was truly impressive. I haven't seen this much focus by a group of individuals on a Turkey Shoot ever. It was as though no one would accept second place."

"The winners, successfully defended the island killing 13 of 14 enemy aircraft with no losses," said Capt. Christopher Ridlon, 325th Operations Support Squadron instructor pilot. "The heavily outnumbered scenario forced the pilots to rely on intelligence for accurate information as well as their controllers for situational awareness during the fight. The 14 adversaries, something normally seen only in a large force exercise, represented a significant step up in the level of challenge compared to past Turkey Shoots.

"The realistic scenario allowed pilots, controllers and intelligence officers to not only gain esprit de corps but also gain valuable training to sharpen their skills. For instructor pilots who often fly against lower-threat scenarios for student training, the Turkey Shoot was an opportunity to practice tactics against a higher threat level."

The pressure was on and jets filled Tyndall's skies from sunrise Oct. 30, until the roar of award recipients came late afternoon Friday in Hangar 1.

"Basically, fighter squadrons and AMUs were competing against each other to prepare the best aircraft as a complete weapon system for the pilots, who then compete against other air assets in an airborne scenario," said Col. Brett Haswell, 325th Maintenance Group commander.

Approximately six days before the competition even started, the 325th Operations Group's four fighter squadrons and corresponding 325th MXG's four AMUs were provided with a baseline scenario by the intelligence flights, also competing for their own awards.

"The baseline scenario allows the intelligence personnel to construct charts and inform their pilots/aircrew in order to begin the mission planning process," said Capt. David Anderson, 325th Operations Support Squadron intelligence chief. "Participants are provided daily intelligence updates to simulate real-world message traffic, conflict developments and to complicate their mission planning process."

"The scenario for the simulator and live fly missions take into account the observed weapons and tactics of a selected country of interest," said Captain. Anderson. "This was done to add realism and practice core intelligence functions utilized during combat. Turkey Shoot allowed the OG squadrons and their maintenance support to practice wartime functions in a peacetime, competitive environment. It is a key opportunity to practice core intelligence combat functions outside of our daily requirements of instructing permanent party and student pilots and aircrew."

The base-wide competition gave real-world warfighting experience and the opportunity to boost team spirit to the members of the 325th MXG and OG squadrons.

"Turkey Shoot fostered espirit de corps and gave maintainers a goal to shoot for," said Tech. Sgt. Randall Aubin, 43rd AMU loading element NCO in charge, "It also shows how the weapons load crew entwines with the mission."

"Turkey Shoot was fantastic and very challenging," said Lt. Col. Kevin Huyck, 43rd Fighter Squadron director of operations, after completing a 2 verses 14 aircraft mission Nov. 1. "It was tough getting air dominance out there. The F-22 gives you great situational awareness."

For maintainers, the 325th MXG quality assurance evaluators looked for safety and technical order compliance.

"It takes a good preflight inspection and a good launch (to win)," said Master Sgt. Robert Gulp, 325th MXG QA evaluator. "We make sure maintainers are using TOs and show professionalism."

Teams lost points for having a discrepancy during the graded Turkey Shoot inspections. Being graded with zero discrepancies is why Sergeant Aubin thought his team excelled and they did by winning top launch crew for a defensive-counter air mission.

"They had a great load and made time with no mistakes," he said. "Teamwork works well."

QA compared all scores for Tyndall AMUs to determine the ultimate winner was the 95th AMU.

"More eyes were looking at you and it was more stressful," said Airman Joshua Ensor, 43rd AMU crew chief.

"We had to make sure we stayed on task step-by-step," said Staff Sgt. Ralph Heard, 43rd AMU crew chief.

Each squadron went into the fight with more than just their daily co-workers. Behind each one of them were 325th Air Control Squadron instructors who took time from teaching air battle management students to provide tactical command and control for the competition. Many of the instructors had experience on an E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System during Operations Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom and/or Noble Eagle.

"It was a chance for our guys to get away from their daily routine and gain good experience that will help them with their weapons school application," said Capt. Jerry Canny 325th ACS weapons and tactics chief.

Being awarded the best weapons technician also gave winning air battle managers bragging rights. The same reward went to the squadron's top pilot simulator technician. A three-man team from the 325th ACS was matched with each fighter squadron to provide the "big picture" of the scenario in Tyndall's skies during the competition.

In the end, Turkey Shoot participants went back to their units with pride.

"Recognition among their peers, team building validation and good old fashioned camaraderie are foundations of why our Air Force is the best in the world," said Colonel Haswell. "No one comes close due to the excellent quality of our people and their motivation to succeed."

"For now, the trophy remains in blue, (the 95th FS tail color) but we cannot let up," said Colonel Routt. "The wolf at the bottom of the hill is always hungrier than the wolf at the top. Here's to the next Turkey Shoot."