GOODFELLOW AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- The 312th Training Squadron hosted the 8th annual Blood, Sweat, and Stairs competition here, Oct. 10.
The competition was made up of challenges that simulate what first responders experienced during the events of 9/11. These challenges honor those who paid the ultimate sacrifice.
Each activity represented different obstacles that the firefighters faced.
“The main thing is stairs,” said Tech. Sgt. Ryan Martin, 312th TRS instructor supervisor. “There’s a ton of stairs going on; at every objective, there are more stairs. We have dummy drags that simulate picking up people that couldn’t walk or pulling people from the rubble. They picked up tools and carried them upstairs because you never go in empty-handed. We had the farmer’s carry, to simulate carrying wounded out of a building, and the kaiser sled, that simulates forceful entry.”
Many people were inspired by those who acted during 9/11 to become first responders and military members like Airman 1st Class Ian Loveall, 312th TRS student.
That day inspired him to join the Air Force and become a firefighter.
“I remember looking up at the skyline and just seeing smoke,” said Loveall who grew up in New Jersey and witnessed the events of 9/11. “Growing up around that area, seeing those memorials, meeting those people, I don’t think there’s a single person I know who wasn’t affected.”
Like Loveall, many others took the same path, willing to put their own lives in danger for the sake of another.