The Air Mobility Rodeo was a biennial, international airlift competition hosted by the United States Air Force (USAF) Air Mobility Command (AMC). 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 final Air Mobility Rodeo was held at McChord Air Force Base, during July 2011. The USAF decided to replace it with a new AMC exercise called Mobility Guardian. The first Mobility Guardian exercise took place 30 July to 12 August 2017 at JB Lewis-McChord Operations The competition tests the flight and ground skills of security forces, aerial port operations, aeromedical evacuation, and maintenance team members. History Background 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. Up to this direction from the Kennedy Administration MATS had only required troop carrier units equipped with C-124 Globemaster II aircraft to be qualified in its Computed Air Release Point (CARP) aerial delivery technique. The CARP technique required the aircrew to file a detailed flight plan detailing the route along with the exact Time on Target (TOT). Using the CARP process correctly would ensure that an airdrop would be made based on time and would allow the airdrop to take place even if at night or if the drop zone was obscured by weather. Beginning in January 1961, however, MATS required all C-124 units to become CARP