Flying Yankees compete in Warrior Day

BRADLEY AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE - East Granby, Conn. -- In the spirit of springtime, Flying Yankees from various units came out last drill to throw down in a little bit of friendly competition. The Yankee Warrior Day, as it was called, was the first event of its kind for the 103rd Airlift Wing and offered the Airmen a chance to come together as groups to show each other who was the most physically fit.

The event consisted of challenges such as push-up and sit-up relays, a truck pull, a ruck sack race and sand-filled ammo can run.

According to the event organizers, Yankee Warrior Day is a 103rd Airlift Wing morale and welfare event focused on safely strengthening esprit de corps through physical competition.

Each squadron began at one of the nine predetermined physical endurance competition areas and cycled through the stations when directed to do so.

It was fairly evident that the event did work at bringing some of the organizations together. The 103rd Force Support Squadron had custom t-shirts designed to identify themselves as elite and above the pack. The 103rd Student Flight also got creative with black sports paint, painting their faces as if they were preparing for war.

It was the 103rd Civil Engineer Squadron that was arguably the most war-ready though. Finishing the competition with a high score of 69 points, they marginally beat out the 103rd Security Forces Squadron's 62 points.

So, now that the bar has been set and the line drawn in the sand, it's a wonder who will answer the challenge next year. Securi-ty forces may be the obvious competitor, but we can never under-estimate the underdog. Whoever that might be...