Airlift Rodeo

The Air Mobility Rodeo is a biennial, international airlift competition hosted by the United States Air Force Air Mobility Command. AMC gathers wings from active duty, reserve, and Air National Guard units from across the United States and around the world to test and improve tactics in a competitive environment. In this environment units are able to demonstrate capabilities, improve procedures, compare notes, and enhance standardization for global operations.

The competition tests the flight and ground skills of security forces, aerial port operations, aeromedical evacuation, and maintenance team members.

The Rodeo competition name stems from the 1956 Reserve Troop Carrier Rodeo at Bakalar Air Force Base, Indiana hosted by the Continental Air Command.

The active-duty force of the early 1960s received its direction from Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy. The Eisenhower Administration recommended the Military Air Transport Service (MATS) change its mission from a passenger service to strictly military airlift as well as aligning tactical U.S. Army deployments under MATS.

The Kennedy Administration further stressed the importance of rapid global mobility in his first State of the Union Address stating “Obtaining air transport mobility—and obtaining it now—will better assure the ability of our conventional forces to respond, with discrimination and speed, to any problem at any spot on the globe at a moment’s notice.” The President wanted the U.S. to have the capability to prevent both limited and guerrilla wars by being able to rapidly deploy military forces around the world.

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