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AAF Airmen compete in firefighter challenge

  • Published
  • By Capt. Jamie Humphries
  • 438th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
KABUL, Afghanistan --  Working with their Afghan air force advisees, coalition members from the 738th Air Expeditionary Advisory Group, facilitated its first-ever "firefighter challenge" in Kandahar, Afghanistan, recently.

Held at the Kandahar Air Wing Fire Department, four AAF firefighters and three members of the adviser team competed as temperatures reached 100 degrees.

According to officials, the competition goals included improving confidence and reinforcement of previous training accomplished by Afghan firemen with their coalition advisers. The event was based on similar competition events held by stateside firemen.

The idea for the event was hatched by Master Gunnery Sgt. James Babst, who is a firefighter in Philadelphia and on reserve duty at KAW. When not busy with other duties, Babst volunteers his extra time to assist with training and mentorship at the AAF Fire Department.

"Having the firefighters complete this skills challenge was a way to improve their confidence and reinforce the training they have already gone through," said Babst. "The evolutions that they performed were realistic and gave them a sense of what tasks they might have to accomplish in an emergency situation."

In full protective gear, including a self-contained breathing apparatus, firemen competing in the challenge raced against the clock to accomplish six specific tasks. The tasks included the hose and dummy drag, rolling supply hose maneuver, hose carry, ladder operations and attack line advancement which measures the fireman's ability to get the proper amount of water on a fire in the safest, most efficient manner possible.

"The toughest part of the event was dragging a 150-pound dummy and then immediately climbing up and down the ladder three times," said Tech. Sgt. Blaine Holland, 738th AEAG firefighter. "It really wore out our legs."

On hand to witness the event was Lt. Col. Ghulan Farooq, commander of the AAF Logistics Readiness Squadron, who watched AAF fireman Abdullah Jan finish first in the competition with a time of 3 minutes, 23 seconds.

Farooq, along with Lt. Col. Keith Travis, 443rd Mission Support Squadron commander, not only observed spirited competition, but realistic and applicable training put to good use.

"We are very thankful for the training and it is our job to be able to perform all these tasks," said Lt. Mohammed Noor, AAF firefighter.