Small number, big hearts

Senior Airman Jonathan Perry, a 19th Operation Support Squadron joint air drop inspector, inspects the release away static line for a Joint Precision Air Drop System, July 14, 2011, at Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark. Perry is currently training to compete in the Air Mobility Command RODEO 2011, held at McChord Field on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., from July 24 to July 29. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Chad Chisholm)

Small number, big heart

Published July 21, 2011
By Airman 1st Class Regina Agoha
19th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

LITTLE ROCK AIR FORCE BASE, Ark -- The 19th Operation Support Squadron Joint Airdrop Inspection team has high energy as they ship off for the Air Mobility Command RODEO competition July 22, 2011.

With only two members, the JAI team is anxious to take the crown from the four-time JAI winners from Pope AFB, N.C.

Senior Airman Jonathan Perry, a joint airdrop inspector, said the team will be competing in the heavy equipment category as well as the container delivery system category. "In the container delivery system category," he said, "there are four possible events." Those events are high velocity load, low velocity load, low cost aerial delivery system load and a joint precision airdrop system, he added.

Staff Sgt. Joseph Thomas, a joint airdrop inspector and team leader, said every day for their team is practice.

"Every day we go down and inspect and, we always find discrepancies. It's never the same," said Perry. Some of the discrepancies they find as they inspect are rigging errors in the equipment and load master errors. Being that this team has only two members, they really have to work together.

"We're going to make it happen. We are prepared," said Thomas.

Though they will be going up against tough competitors, said Perry, they are confident that they are going to win. "I think we have a definite edge in the CDS category," said Perry.

Thomas said he has visited Pope and observed their team, the team that won for the past four years in the JAI section. He said he was also able to see certain operation techniques for the heavy equipment portion of the competition.

Both first time RODEO competitors, Thomas and Perry said that winning at RODEO would be an honor and would give them major bragging rights because they would be beating the best.