ANG Defender Challenge team trains at Ft. Chaffee

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Christopher Sherlock
  • 188th Public Affairs Office
EBBING AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, Ark. --  Security forces Airmen from across the United States gathered at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, from January 21-25, 2020, to train for the Defender Challenge, a competition between security forces members.

This training introduced the Airmen who compose the Air National Guard’s team to each other as they trained on skills pertaining to their career field, while identifying their strengths and learning to work together as a team.

Master Sgt. Frank Koeth, 188th Security Forces Squadron (SFS) training manager, who facilitated on-site amenities and equipment for the team, looks forward to seeing success from the team at competition.

“They got some valuable training and came together as a team so that the next training iteration they can build on that and hopefully come into the competition and take first place,” said Koeth.

Fort Chaffee was selected as the practice ground for the team due to its quality facilities for skills that will be tested at the Defender Challenge, including shooting and marksmanship, land navigation, combat and wartime tasks, and law enforcement-type scenarios.

Senior Master Sgt. Bradley Rose, Defender Challenge team member, values the training capabilities at Fort Chaffee.

“It was an awesome opportunity to actually come out here because at my Guard base we don’t have anything like this,” said Rose. “It gets everything that we need accomplished.”

The team will face other Defender teams at the event, held at Joint Base San Antonio-Camp Bullis, Texas, in May 2020.

Members of the Air National Guard’s team include 1st Lt. Christopher Woody, 138th SFS, Senior Master Sgt. Bradley Rose, 185th SFS; Master Sgt. Gregory Wardle, 153rd SFS; Tech. Sgt. Dedrick Baublitz, 103rd SFS; Tech. Sgt. Christopher Reed, 110th SFS; Staff Sgt. Jonathan Finer 124th SFS; and team coach Master Sgt. Jeffery Carter, 187th SFS.