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Anything you can do...

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Kathrine McDowell
  • 20th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. --  The 20th Maintenance Group's aircraft maintenance units held their second 2009 quarterly weapons load competition July 8, with a team from each of the AMUs. Each team was directed to load one AIM-120 advanced medium-range air-to-air missile, one guided bomb GBU-24 laser-guided, 2,000-pound bomb and one GBU-12 laser-guided, 500-pound bomb on an F-16 aircraft. 

"The load competition gives the guys a chance to compete and showcase their abilities and their knowledge against the other AMUs," said Master Sgt. Xyclone Brown, 20th Weapons Standardization evaluator. "It's a chance to show a, 'Hey, we're better than you are. We can do it better than you can,' sense of pride." 

"It took team work. We were fluid with each other. We knew where each person was going to be so we stayed out of each other's way," explained Airman 1st Class Justin Clayton, a member of the 2008 Weapons Load Crew of the Year. 

Staying out of each other's way could mean winning or losing the match. Each team starts with 2,000 points. At 300 points per infraction, safety is the biggest point deduction a team can incur. 

"It's not so much how fast that you finish," said Sergeant Brown, "but how fast you finish safely and reliably." 

Sergeant Brown was one of three evaluators who followed each crew member as they performed their tasks. Joining him was Tech. Sgt. Samuel McDonnell and Tech. Sgt. Keri Frandsen. 

When asked about the pressures of evaluators following him around, Airman 1st Scott William replied, "I don't even notice them. We just try to do our thing without messing up." 

The winning team will be announced July 22.