Maintenance Airmen load up for annual competition Published Oct. 20, 2015 By Airman 1st Class Timothy Kim 52nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, Germany -- The 52nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron hosted the 3rd quarterly weapons load competition in hangar 1 at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany Oct. 16, 2015. The competition consisted of two teams battling for the right to compete in the annual weapons load competition. "Each of the crews already told me this morning that they're the best - let's see if they have what it takes to earn 480th bragging rights," said U.S. Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Craig Brandenburg, 52nd Maintenance Group wing weapons manager. Both teams worked at a fast pace to load missiles onto the aircraft as quickly as possible. Judges reviewed both teams on their overall time and accuracy of loading weapons to the wings of an F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter aircraft. U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Joseph Morris, a 480th Fighter Squadron weapons team chief, and his two team members, U.S. Air Force Senior Airmen Jonathan Rivera and Travis Dougherty, both 480th FS weapons crew members, emerged as victors at the conclusion of the competition. "It feels pretty good," said Dougherty. "We lost a few points during the competition, but at the end of the day it's about who was the better loader." The winning team will be moving onto the annual competition, where they will be competing with the other quarter competition winners. "I'm happy that we won," said Rivera. "We came out to do our thing, showed up and now we're heading up to the annual load competition." The annual load competition will feature a race between the winners of all four quarter competitions, pitting four teams of three maintenance Airmen against each other to compete in a battle to decide who will take the title of Weapons Load Crew of the Year. "Overall, the competition was a good one," said U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Mandingo Alfred, a 52nd Maintenance Group weapons standardization lead team chief. "Both teams did well, but at the end of the day you can only have one winner and the best crew won. We watched them perform their jobs and these six individuals were chosen due to their outstanding records." Alfred states that the annual load competition is normally held in January invites those interested to keep their ears open for further announcements. For more photos of the event, visit Flickr here.