America's warriors compete

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Saphfire Cook
  • 355th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  Less than one percent of the American population serves in military, and an even smaller percentage of that number serves in special operations forces.

Being part of such a distinctive career field brings with it a certain set of survival and triage skills. Two pararescuemen from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., recently received the chance to use those skills as contestants in Maxim magazine's Maximum Warrior.

Maximum Warrior is an internet-based reality show in which special operations forces members from different branches of the military compete in a series of challenges to earn the title of Maximum Warrior.

Tech. Sgt. Sean and Staff Sgt. Rob traveled to Crawfordsville, Ark. for the competition after learning about the contest from past participants.

"A friend of mine won the competition a few years ago," Rob said. "After hearing about his experience, it was something I was really interested in. I was actually an alternate last year, but I couldn't attend due to a last-minute deployment. I asked them to keep me in mind for the next competition, so I was very excited when I got the call."

During the challenges, the ten selected contestants compete in a series of military training inspired events. Each episode of the 10-week web series features tasks such as assembling a weapon blindfolded and completing a rescue-under-fire mission.

At the end of each task, the contestant with the slowest time is eliminated.

"There's an obstacle course that everyone starts out with," Rob said. "It's between 600 and 800 meters. You have to do it wearing a full kit, helmet, weapon and sidearm."

The competition was hosted at the Tier 1 Group compound. The T1G has a 777-acre facility used for civilian and military training in areas such as weapons and operational medicine.

Sean and Rob were given the opportunity to compete against special forces operators from different military branches.

"I really enjoyed competing against some of the best trained operators the military has to offer," Sean said.

Working with these operators gave Rob a fresh insight into the tactics used in his career field.

"I saw the different ways they set up their kits, and different ideas for how to move around wearing multiple weapons," he said. "There were a lot of lessons learned from watching everyone's mistakes, including my own. I won't be forgetting what I leaned, especially how to put together an AK-47."

This fourth season of Maximum Warrior is scheduled to premiere late September on the Maximum Warrior YouTube channel.

"It was a great experience," Sean said. "All branches of the military were well represented by their members. Interacting with them showed me that no one special operations force is better than the other."

(Editor's note: The subjects of this story have chosen to omit their full names for operational security.)