Fight Night entertains 1,000

Airman First Class Jeremi Welborn, a member of the Desert 5, announces the champion of a boxing match that took place at Fight Night Jan. 25. The event took place in Memorial Plaza where approximately 1,000 servicemembers attended and enjoyed 15 boxing matches in all. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Domonique Simmons)

Fight night boosts morale on base

Published Feb. 5, 2008
By Senior Airman Tong Duong
379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- Punch for punch and jab for jab, servicemembers at a Southwest Asia base Jan. 25 slugged it out for three one-minute rounds to the delight of more than 1,000 cheering fans.

The brainchild of the Desert 5 Airmen morale team, the purpose of the event was to raise esprit de corps and unite our sister servicemembers and coalition forces under one tent, said Senior Airman Joseph Jacobo, 379th Expeditionary Security Forces response force member deployed from Aviano Air Base, Italy.

"The event was a big success. We had to turn away contestants because there wasn't enough time for everyone to fight, There were even people standing on the stage to gain a higher vantage point," said Airman Jacobo. "I had a lot of the fighters come up to me and tell me they really enjoyed it."

The event was a great way to boost morale, according to Army Sergeant Antonio Estebane, battalion readiness center non-commissioned officer, deployed from Fort Bliss, Texas.

"This is my first time here, and for them to put together something like this is great," he said. It gets all branches of services and coalition forces together. Some of the people have been here for a while, and an event like this is a great way to distract them from the deployment mindset.

While most who participated in fight night tried their best to out-perform their opponents, some said they just wanted to have fun and entertain the crowd.

Staff Sgt. Penny Ortega, 379th ESFS area supervisor, deployed from Schriever Air Force Base, Colo., and Staff Sgt. Phoenix Ellert, 379th ESFS base defense operations center controller, deployed from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., were disqualified for staging their fight.
"We just wanted to be funny and have fun," Sergeant Ortega said. "We've been plotting for over a month now. When most people fight they take it too seriously. We are both at the end of our rotation and wanted to have fun and entertain the crowd."