Team Hickam's 535th Airlift Squadron won the Air Mobility Rodeo 2011 trophy for "Best C-17 Combat Offload and Backing" July 29 at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.

The Rodeo, sponsored by the Air Mobility Command, is a biennial readiness competition focusing on improving worldwide air mobility forces' professional core abilities. Twenty-six countries and international agencies attended and competed in the Rodeo July 24 to 29.

"It was great to win an award and represent Team Hickam," said Capt. David Morales, 535th AS C-17Globemaster III pilot and 15th Wing team leader for Team Hickam. "It's fun, and there's lots of camaraderie and tough competition."

Five units from Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, were in attendance, according to Maj. Anthony Gurrieri, the 15th Wing Rodeo chief.

The C-17 crew completed three flights during the competition, including low-level navigation culminating in air drops, Morales said. The first flight was a personnel drop, during which they dropped five Airmen out the back of the jet. The next was a Container Delivery System drop, during which they dropped three bundles -- the first two were regular CDS bundles, and the last was an Improved CDS, which gathers atmospheric data, relays it back to the crew, and allows them to calculate a smart release point. Two of the sorties included aerial refueling with KC-135 Stratotankers.

"Master Sgt. Tim Ledford, the loadmaster in the back, was half the reason we were able to pull the backing combat off-load award," Morales said. "He was back there giving direction to the pilots up front because we don't have rear-view mirrors. He's our 'seeing-eye dog' in the back, letting us know where to go."

Working together with such good synergy was what made it happen, he said.

The maintenance team was equally superb, according to Morales.

"Our jet worked perfectly, and we had no maintenance issues whatsoever," he said. "When we started engines, they started up just fine. We took the jet, flew it, and brought it back with nothing to report in terms of maintenance. They were spot on having our jet ready. The jet was immaculate, and spotless. They took a six-year-old aircraft and made it look like it was just off the line. It was a group effort to make the event successful."

They trained as hard as they could for the events, he said. They knew what the operations orders had to say, they know all the rules and regulations, and in the end it was just about going out and making it happen.

"You can only train so much and the rest is up to the gods, you know, up to chance," Morales said. "But we were very well prepared and we went out there and gave it our best shot. Our goal was to do our best and be safe, of course. We left it all out there, on the airfield and in the sky and on the ground. And we had a good time."

This win for Team Hickam was indicative of the skill and pride of the entire team, according to Gurrieri. The teams represented were the 15th Wing C-17s and KC-135, a 15th and 154th Wing joint maintenance team, 647th Air Base Group security forces, the 515th Air Mobility Operations Wing aerial port team, and 624th RSG aerial porters.

"I think overall we did extremely well, everyone gave 100 percent, did the best they could do, and I was very proud of the team and the effort that was put forth," Gurrieri said.

"Rodeo is a great competition. There's a lot of skill that goes into it, a lot of training, and a lot of hard work; but there's also a bit of luck involved. I think everybody out here is extremely tough competitors, well trained, and ready to go," he continued. "It takes a little bit of everything getting lined up to come away with victories, but our guys did awesome."