Pilots with Idaho Air National Guard’s 124th Fighter Wing, 190th Fighter Squadron, accepted top honors at the Hawgsmoke 2021 competition, and it’s not about Barbeque…..

…or was it?  Notice all the broken shot-glasses.  Part of the opening ceremonies, remembering fallen warriors with booze.

Hawgsmoke 2021 was held at Moody Air Force Base (AFB) in Georgia, from April 14th to the 17th.  More than 150 personnel from 13 A-10C units took part in the secretive competition: “You don’t know what the events are until about 10 minutes before takeoff. They might give you general idea of what to prepare for, but you never know until you are sitting in the cockpit.”-Lieutenant Colonel Jason Cobb, 190th Fighter Squadron, Idaho Air National Guard

And the winners are (Idaho in bold).

 Top Overall Flying Team: Skull Flight, 190th Fighter Squadron (FS).

 Top Tactical Team: Skull Flight, 190th FS.

 Top Basic Surface Attack: Skull Flight, 190th FS.

Individual Top Gun Overall: Captain Taylor ‘Pistol’ Price, 104th FS.

Individual Top Gun Dive Bomb: Lieutenant Colonel Aaron ‘Puff’ Palan, 358th FS.

 Individual Top Gun Low Bomb: Captain Taylor ‘Pistol’ Price, 104th FS.

 Individual Top Gun Strafe: Captain Taylor ‘Petrie’ Bye, 75th FS.

Weapons Load Competition: Staff Sergenat Riley McIrvin, Airman First Class Maria Bermudez and Senior Airman Najee King, 354th Aircraft Maintenance Unit.

Marshalling Award: 354th AMU, Airman First Class Derek Delosh.

 Overall Maintenance Award: 104th AMU.

In the above photo you can see the trophies being made, these are for Best Maintenance Team.  Hey, I have the same skull cap!

This A-10 is being used in the first-ever for Hawgsmoke Weapons Loading competition.

Music video by Staff Sergeant Devin Boyer of first-ever Hawgsmoke Weapons Load comp:

Here’s a really dangerous part of aircraft operations, uploading liquid oxygen for the pilot can breath. An Indiana Air National Guard Airman fills the LOX (Liquid OXygen) bottle on one of his unit’s A-10s, at Hawgsmoke 2021.

Some of the private donors (yes, Hawgsmoke is partly funded by private donations!), and other ‘distinguished visitors’, got a tour of Hawgsmoke 2021.  Hawgsmoke is a resurrection of the old Gunsmoke competition over Nellis AFB, in Nevada.  Despite military press writers, and even military personnel, constantly using the wrong word to describe when Hawgsmoke happens, it is a biennial event (not biannual, meaning twice per year), taking place every other year.  Biennial and biannual are pronounced differently, so I don’t know why personnel are constantly saying biannual for an every other year event.

“Going to Boise!” video, by Airman First Class Megan Estrada:

The Idaho Air National Guard has hosted Hawgsmoke in 2008 and 2010, and will host the Hawgsmoke competition in 2023.  It would be launched from Gowen Field, and conducted over the Orchard Combat Training Area.

April 2021: Idaho hosts .50 cal Door Gunner shoot

IDAHO HOME TO FIRST EVER NATIONAL GUARD D-A-G-I-R!

March 2021: MORALE BOOSTER A-10C GUN-RUN IN IDAHO!