Team Cohesion Challenge participants prevail through many trials

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Isaac O. Guest IV
  • 1st Special Operations Wing Public Affairs

Fifteen Air Commandos participated in the Air Force Special Operations Command Team Cohesion Challenge, here, Sept. 29, 2016.

 

The event, hosted by the fitness staff at the Aderholt Fitness Center, spanned six hours and seven miles and was a physical and mental challenge designed to bring individuals together as a team.

 

“We teach the same things we learned in the military: leadership, teamwork and communication,” said Kevin Randolph, an Army team sergeant with the 7th Special Forces Group at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida and cadre for the event.

 

This particular event incorporated special operations team-based training from Navy Seals, Green Berets and other special forces’ training.

 

“You may not think you can do it; but you can,” Randolph said. “The mind is much stronger than the body.”

 

Participants gathered at 6 a.m. to start off the event with a “welcome party” consisting of squatting ruck sacks, dragging their wingmen across the field and filling sandbags to add weight to their rucks.

 

They then proceeded to ruck to different locations across base that included low crawling, rope climbing, tire flipping, and a variety of other exercises that pushed every individual to their physical peak.

 

“It was a lot more different then I thought it would be,” said Senior Airman Clint Barbola, an electrical systems apprentice with the 1st Special Operations Civil Engineer Squadron. “It was a lot more intense.”

 

The challenges are designed to put a group’s teamwork to test physically and mentally, however the Air Commandos at Hurlburt Field excelled.

 

“I don’t know what it was,” Randolph said. “But this was a really good class, there was no arguing or fights; they just got it done.”

 

He said events such as these seem to have a good response amongst participants, and they typically do similar challenges if given the opportunity.

 

“You don’t remember your normal days in the military,” he said. “You remember the crazy days where you thought you weren’t going to make it.”