The team of four men under "assault" fired back at the snipers, hiding inside the walls of the village.
Within minutes, the four men were headed through an obstacle course -- climbing a 60-foot netting, scaling and jumping over walls made of logs, pulling themselves across monkey bars and snaking on their bellies through muddy water beneath barbed wire.
The physical tests were among the elements that 20 four-person teams tackled Monday as part of the 22nd Security Forces Squadron's first Combat Triathlon at the base.
The obstacle-course action was sandwiched by three other physical tests. Team members -- mostly military and law enforcement personnel from Wichita agencies -- started the four-event "triathlon" with a 100-meter swim and a two-mile run. After the obstacle course, they ended the event with about a two-mile hike, each person carrying a nearly 40-pound rucksack.
The triathlon was designed to bring departments together in a friendly competition as part of McConnell's activities marking National Police Week, which honors law enforcement officers.
Grueling? You bet. It was common to see officers -- most appearing young and physically fit -- stopping for a break before tackling an obstacle. On the last event -- the hike -- many could only kick into a slow walk gear.
"Medic!" one man jokingly called out as he crossed the finish line.
"Now you can throw up," one spectator said to a competitor as he finished.
"If you do any one of these events alone, it's easy," Tech. Sgt. Mike Castillo said. "But you stack one on top of another on top of another, it's tough."
The fastest time of the day -- about 57 minutes, 31 seconds -- was logged by the team of Sgt. Justin Moore, Airman 1st Class Stephen Vogt, Airman 1st Class John Bonebrake and Air National Guard Staff Sgt. Rick Haney -- one of three teams representing McConnell's 22nd Security Forces.
The team moved so quickly, it passed another team on the course. The teams started 19 minutes apart.
"We weren't going to take anything else but first," Vogt said, noting that the team trained eight hours a day for the last several weeks.
Air Force 2nd Lt. Kellie Black said that as competitive and physically demanding as the race was, "It was a good time."
