Fire academy hosts Blood, Sweat and Stairs Published Oct. 17, 2016 By Senior Airman Joshua Edwards 17th Training Wing Public Affairs GOODFELLOW AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- The 312th Training Squadron and the Military Firefighter Heritage Foundation hosted the 3rd Annual Blood, Sweat and Stairs at the Louis F. Garland Department of Defense Fire Academy Oct. 15. The competition is held each year to honor the first responders of 9/11, however the 312th TRS rescheduled it this year due to bad weather. “It’s a physical and mental challenge to give people the appreciation of what firefighters do every single day,” said Tech Sgt. Roy Campos, 312th Training Squadron instructor. “I definitely think people struggle most with the stairs. Most people use the stairs every day to go up and down buildings or their house. Over here we have hundreds of steps that they need to go up and down. They need to hit every single step we have on the fire academy pad.” During the competition, contestants not only had to climb stairs but also had to perform various other physical feats such as a kettlebell walk, pushups and navigating through tires. “It was great,” Army Staff Sgt. Shannon Corona, 344th Military Intelligence Battalion administrator. “It’s not every day that you get to come out here and play on the equipment. I’ll do it again next year if I’m here.”
