MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. — The 91st Security Forces Group (91SFG) ran a four-day defender challenge Sept. 23–24 and Sept. 29–30, putting Airmen from its four squadrons through weapons, field and endurance events to sharpen skills outside of formal inspection cycles.

Two teams from each squadron—four competitors and one alternate per team—represented the 891st Missile Security Forces Squadron (891MSFS), 91st Missile Security Operations Squadron (91MSOS), 91st Missile Security Forces Squadron (91MSFS) and 791st Missile Security Forces Squadron.

The competition opened with an M4 carbine firing event that paired stress with precision. Teams ran three laps around the Combat Arms Training and Maintenance facility in full gear, performed a one-minute duck walk around a truck while memorizing the colored shapes plastered around the vehicle, then fired 10 rounds at targets according to what they had memorized.

“The purpose of the firing portion is to challenge them physically and mentally under stressful situations,” said U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Ryan Duran, 91MSOS Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge of operations.

The second event of the challenge was dismounted operations. Mounted operations are when defenders are aboard a vehicle, while dismounted operations are procedures that defenders can do on foot in the event mounted operations are ill-advised or impossible.

Teams cycled through seven job-focused stations for the dismounted operations portion: M240B machine gun disassembly and reassembly, Tactical Combat Casualty Care, apprehension and search procedures, pushing a high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle, PRC-152 radio calibration, a knowledge test and A-Circuit unlocking.

The third and final event was the physical endurance competition at the base’s track. Each team ran a quarter-mile lap in kit, then loaded a manikin onto a litter for a second lap, then each member shuttled ammo cans downfield, rapidly broke down and reassembled an M4 carbine then returned with the cans before the next member repeated the sequence.

“When we’re not in an inspection, it’s great to get a chance to come out here, train, practice and stay sharp,” said U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Curtis Covington, 91SFG executive officer. “There’s always competition between all four of the squadrons within the SFG, so we thought it would be really good to keep ourselves sharp, grounded and have some fun by making a challenge out of it.”

The challenge’s rules required each team to include at least one junior Airman, a way for younger defenders to get meaningful reps in a high-pressure setting.

“The commander’s intent for this is to put our defenders through a stressful environment where they can push themselves while testing their job knowledge,” said U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Brandon Trinidad, 91SFG chief of weapons and tactics. “It’ll also inherently prep them for other defender challenges at higher echelons.”

The teams were given only a broad outline in advance, such being informed that there would be a weapons disassembly portion, but not which weapon they would be working on. That forced teams to practice across systems and close knowledge gaps before game day.

“I think there are a lot of people that I work with who provide the shoulder to lean on in situations where I don’t have all the knowledge that other people have,” said Airman 1st Class Anthony Turek, an 891st MSFS defender. “I think today is a great example of that. There are certain people on my team who have been in longer than I have, or have been to other locations. I think collectively, we can get the job done.”