Osan Airmen take Combat Fitness Challenge

by Staff Sgt. Stefanie Torres
51st Fighter Wing Public Affairs

11/21/2012 - OSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea -- Staying fit in a deployed environment may make the difference is saving a life, and Osan Airmen recently challenges themselves to the Marine Combat Fitness Test Oct. 26, 2012, to see where their abilities ranked against their sister service.

Approximately 86 Airmen showed up for the test, an event the Marines have to run semi-annually for a total of 300 points.

"There are three separate events," said Capt Joshua Freeland, 607th Air Support Operations Group Marine liaison. "The movement to contact, an ammo can lift, and the maneuver under fire."

Airmen were required to sprint a half a mile in full uniform, lift a 30-pound ammo can in as many repetitions possible above the head over the course of two minutes, and maneuver under fire events combining a shuttle run, grenade throw, buddy carry, fireman's carry, ammunition drag, sprints and low and high crawls.

Although the test may be a fun challenge to accept, taking the course over and over again may not be the desired outcome, he explained.

"Everybody's exhausted when they finish one way or another," Freeland said. "Some people tell me that they never want to run it again, but they do tell me that they had a lot of fun while doing it."

Safety monitors who have taken the test before came out to ensure proper techniques were used to eliminate injury during the events, explained the captain.

"We've got about 26 individuals that I trained to put together and run a CFT," he said. "The fact that they were really motivated enough to go out and grab those personnel and bring them here for this event worked out really well."

As a big Marine Corps historian, Freeland saw the CFT as an applicable measure for the Air Force as well as the Marines.

"I was going through some of the photos of the Army Air Corps in Iwo Jima, and the conditions they were serving in only led me to believe that it was more applicable for the Air Force members to be able to do something like this because whether you're running across a flight line under enemy fire or towards enemy fire, there's benefits to the event for everybody no matter where you come from or what you do," he said.

"This was a great turnout," said Lavessia Souravong, 51st Medical Operations Squadron medic. "Even though a lot of people where exhausted everyone seemed to have a great time."