Friendly competition caps off 916th OG’s Wingman Day events

  • Published
  • By MSgt. Wendy Lopedote
  • 916th Public Affairs Office
SEYMOUR JOHNSON AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. --  The maintainers and operators of the 916th Operations Group and 911th Air Refueling Squadron have proved time and time again that they can work well together as the results of multiple recent inspections have shown.

But they took timeout from their busy schedule on Friday, just prior to the June unit training assembly, for a little friendly competition as a 916th Ops team faced off against a combined operator/maintenance team from the 911th in a softball double-header at Tinker Field.

In the end, it was a split decision with the teams winning one game each to culminate a full day of Wingman's Day activities.

Operations group leadership held briefings and small group sessions in the morning followed by a cookout and games at the softball field in the afternoon.

"The morning activities were pretty serious and straightforward Wingman Day stuff," said pilot Lt. Col. Corey T. Brown. "But in the afternoon, it was a nice chance to relax and take a break. It was also good camaraderie."

Col. Caroline B. Evernham, 916th OG commander, said that the day was a well-deserved and much-needed break.

"There was always something going on during a UTA weekend that has stopped us from doing something like this before," she said. "But even though the wing rescheduled (its Wingman Day), we felt that it was time to call a timeout and relax a little."

With the high volume of inspections and deployments over the last few years, Evernham admits that getting to know each other better has been tough for the group.

"It's been at least two years since we've been able to socialize like this," said Evernham. "Getting the mission done is great, but it's important to also look out for each other's well-being while doing the mission."

Not only did the cookout and softball games help foster good relationships between her people, Evernham pointed out that other more serious Wingman Day activities like small group discussions and the sexual assault and suicide prevention briefings were equally important for the Airmen.

"There may be people who think they're scraping the very bottom," she said. "We all need to be looking out for those people and let them know that others are there for them.

"We want people to know that they can never be so low that they can't get help."

At the end of their Wingman Day the scoreboard indicated that there was a winning team and a losing team. However, Evernham feels that when maintainers and operators, active duty and Reserve, get to know and take care of each other better, it's a winning situation for everyone.