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The 86th Airlift Wing hosted its third annual Mudless Mudder for resilience day at Ramstein Air Base July 8, 2016.
More than 550 participants ran, jumped, swam, climbed and low-crawled through the five-kilometer obstacle course.
While the Mudless Mudder primarily focused on the physical domain of RUfit, it and the 86th AW Resilience Day allowed the 86th AW to foster resilience and camaraderie within the Kaiserslautern Military Community.
“Resiliency day is important because team building is important,” said Tech Sgt. Antonio Oquendo, 86th Vehicle Readiness Squadron vehicle management NCO in charge. “Everything we do in the Air Force is about teams: Coming together during challenging physical activities brings us together in daily operations as well.”
The 99 teams tackled 15 stations including a tire carry, rope walk, mud pit, pallet climb, monkey bars and container climb.
Volunteer coordinator Master Sgt. Casey Woods, 1st Air and Space Communications Operations Squadron first sergeant, was happy with the success of the event.
“Each team I saw worked together using everyone’s strengths to ensure the whole team succeeded,” Woods said. “It was great seeing so many folks out there accepting the challenges set before them and dominating them.”
Senior Airman Larry Scott, 86th Material Maintenance Squadron asset manager journeyman and Mudless Mudder participant, enjoyed his first mud-der and said it was pretty spectacular.
“It builds squadron morale and camaraderie,” Scott said. “I worked with officers and people [from different units]. It was a great way for us to come together in one event, in a short amount of time. It was pretty fun.”
The 786th Civil Engineer Squadron Explosive Ordnance Disposal technicians won the first place trophy for completing the race the fastest.
As the participants approached the finish line, they were greeted with music, water balloons and water guns.
“I loved it,” Oquendo said. “It helps getting to know each other on a different level, push each other and that translates to the mission. We had guys falling behind, we had to push them, pull through. That’s resiliency — pushing through, bouncing back and finishing strong as a team. That’s exactly what the obstacle course symbolized and a perfect way to
represent resiliency day.”
