Story by Staff Sgt. Derek Davis, 149th Fighter Wing Public Affairs, Texas Air National Guard

LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. -- Soon-to-be F-16 pilots, currently assigned to the Texas Air National Guard’s 149th Fighter Wing, arrived in Phoenix Feb 25 to begin Coronet Cactus, the culminating event in their journey to becoming F-16 fighter pilots for the United States Air Force.

Coronet Cactus is a 14-day training exercise where student pilots fly hundreds of missions, each simulating a different task that they may see later in their Air Force careers.

For many of these fighter pilots-in-training, this exercise brings them even closer to a dream they’ve held since childhood.

“I have always wanted to be a pilot since I was young,” said 1st Lt. Paul Vasta, an F-16 student pilot currently participating in Cactus. “Dad was an Army aviator who got me into aviation. Since then, I have always wanted to fly something fast.”

With more than eight months of intense studying and hundreds of hours of flight time behind them, the students comprising class 19-ABK of the F-16 Initial Qualification Basic Course use Cactus as an opportunity to show their instructors what they’ve learned during their training.

For the instructors, it allows ample time to gauge how the students will perform in an environment that is away from their typical airspace.

“It is a two-week deployment for the basic course students to come out and fly at a different base, in an unfamiliar field, to employ tactics and deploy both heavy and live bombs in different ranges before they graduate," said Lt. Col. Patrick Bridges, one of the course’s instructor pilots assigned to the 149th Fighter Wing.

Bridges has been instructing F-16 students for 16 years now, and his experience tells him that this capstone exercise can cause a little anxiety because the students are not exactly sure what to expect during the event.

“We get together on our lessons learned and provide them with a road map to success,” Bridges said. “A successful Cactus is all the students and jets coming back in one piece, and the students getting a taste of what it's like to operate from a different base.”

As Cactus draws to a close, and these students begin to find their rhythm and understand expectations, they cannot help but express hope about that next step in their careers.

"I feel like my dream has been somewhat fulfilled, and it’s exciting to be able to continue to push [myself] and make improvements,” Vasta said. “I will continue flying jets as long as I can and am excited to see what the future brings.”

This article originally appeared on the Air National Guard website.

Story by Sgt. Daryl Bradford, 100th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, Texas Army National Guard

Service members arrived at Camp Swift on a rainy morning in March, ready to compete in the Texas Military Department 2020 Best Warrior Competition. The sky was overcast, bringing a shadow upon the day, but they had come to prove to themselves and their fellow countrymen that they had what it took to earn the title of “Best Warrior.” Soon, however, the soldiers would realize that competition was only half of the experience. 

The Best Warrior Competition is a demanding challenge that brings together service members from the Texas Army and Air National Guard and Texas’ foreign partners, Chile and Czech Republic, in friendly, four-day competition.

“That’s the biggest benefit of the competition, the type of soldiers and leaders that we develop into in the process of this,” said Sgt. Jonathan David Huwe, an Infantry Team Leader from 3rd Battalion, 141st Infantry Regiment, when speaking on training with and against the Chilean soldiers.

Texas Guardsmen and their foreign counterparts work together to sharpen their warrior skills and leadership qualities during the competition process, ensuring that they are ready to respond in times of crisis or when their home nations need them. The competition furthers relevance and readiness by inspiring training that is tailored to increase the soldier’s ability to defend and serve.
Serving the nation and Texas are both equally important, and he takes pride when supporting the large-scale operations or back at home, said Huwe.

Having served the United States twice on overseas deployments as a Texas Guardsman, Huwe knows the importance of being ready, of being relevant, and maintaining strong partnerships.
“Again, it relates back to that competitive spirit,” said Huwe when talking of the Texas National Guard’s Chilean partners. “They’re going out there to give their best and we’re going out there to push ourselves to meet that. That builds strong bonds. Training together builds respect at the lowest level.”

Partnerships like the ones described inspire others to succeed through competition and increase professional skills among service members. Mutually beneficial relationships are born that positively affects foreign working relations and the United States defense goals.

The ideas that Huwe speaks about aren’t just one-sided either because Chilean soldiers hold the same values important.
“This competition generates friendships and relationships between Chilean and U.S. soldiers that pushes us to be the best,” said 2nd Cpl. Manuel Aroca Navarette, an infantry specialist with the Chilean 21st Marine Infantry Battalion. “That respect among each other causes us to fight to be better.”

Among other things, camaraderie built from competition is one of the main qualities the service members from the different countries have in common, said Navarette.

A camaraderie that builds strong bonds—bonds that far surpass geographic and language barriers. The Texas Military Department 2020 Best Warrior Competition fosters those type of friendships. Even more importantly it builds partnerships because even the service member crowned “Best Warrior” is nothing without the support of his brothers-in-arms.

Story by Tech. Sgt. Augustin Salazar, 149th Fighter Winger Public Affairs, Texas Air National Guard

JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO- LACKLAND, Texas -Three airmen assigned to The 149th Fighter Wing participated in the Texas Military Department 2020 Best Warrior Competition at Camp Swift in Bastrop, Texas March 4-8, 2020.

Staff Sgt. Juan Garcia, Staff Sgt. Derek Guedes and Senior Airman Shara Lewis, all assigned to the 149th Fighter Wing, all took on the annual four-day challenge designed to test tactical and technical expertise through scored events.

One of the events the competitors must complete is a water survival test. The water survival test is a 125 yard swim in full uniform, and then they must tread water for ten minutes.

“I would say the water survival test was the most challenging part," said Lewis. "It caught most people by surprise because we hear a 125 yard swim, and most people think, 'I can do that, I do that in the pool all the time. But when you’re in uniform and combat boots, the boots fill up with water, and they start sinking you real quick surprise water and sink you real quick.”

The purpose of the event is to build camaraderie and strengthen inter-agency relationships among Texas Guardsmen. With all of the members running the competition against one another, it may not seem like an excellent team-building event. Still, the competitors often help each other and cheer each other on during the challenges.

"I have learned a lot from my roommate," said Lewis. "Staff Sgt. Guevara, she has taught me a lot since I got here. She is awesome."

Bonds like the one between Lewis and Guevara are beneficial to the Texas Military Department as a whole during natural disasters like hurricane Harvey in 2017. During hurricane recovery missions, the Army and Air Guard often deploy together.

"The event is important because not only are they practicing their warrior skills, but they are also learning how to work with each other." Said Senior Master Sgt. Juan Flores, 149th Security Forces Squadron superintendent.
"We work hand in hand with the Army quite a bit, whether that be in natural disasters or the border mission. So it is important that we learn to work with them to learn how to do it well."

In total, 31 competitors participated in this year’s TMDBWC, including military members from the Czech Republic and Chile who are both partners of the Texas military under the State Partnership Program.
The competition gives all parties involved an opportunity to work with and learn from each other.

"The Chileans are great people," said Garcia. "I've been able to talk to them and become good friends with them. I was even able to help one of them learn how to disassemble and reassemble the Mark 19 Machine Gun because I speak Spanish. It felt really good to teach someone else and he was super appreciative."

The winners of this year’s Best Warrior Competition will be named and honored at a banquet in April. Winners from the Army National Guard will continue to represent Texas in the regional and national Best Warrior competitions later this year.