The 'Undead' participate in Wingman Day fun run

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VANCE AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  Avoiding zombies during the 5K Fun Run was a significant part of resilience training offered during Wingman Day, Oct. 24, at Vance Air Force Base.

Under the guidance of a Resilience Training Assistant, members of the 71st Medical Group, 71st Mission Support Group and the Wing Staff Agencies learned to respect and protect fellow Airmen.

"We wanted our RTAs to make this Wingman Day effective and fun for their squadron through team building and lots of interaction in small groups," said Maggie Laws, the Community Support Coordinator at Vance.

The respect part of the day included instruction on how the brain drives reactions and how alcohol impairs higher level judgment. The lessons were reinforced with obstacle courses, games and a variety of presentations.

New for the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response training for Wingman Day were an audio tape of a sexual-assault victim and a video tape of an Airman who was able to avoid an attack with the help of her Wingmen.

More than 210 members of Team Vance learned how to protect their Wingman during the 5K fun run in the afternoon. Seventy zombies attempted to steal the flag of each five-person team along the route.

The zombies were sporting moulage scars, amputations and other "undead" identifying marks applied by an expert team prior to the 5K.

The leaders in surviving the zombies while still carrying their flag were Team Platypus in first place, Team 3 FTS in second and the Black T's in third.

Focus 4 partnered with the Bradley Fitness and Sports Center to organize the zombie run. This is the second year it was held.

The first 185 run participants received a custom T-shirt sporting an original run design created by the 71st Force Support Squadron Marketing department.

Laws said Wingman Day was a big success. "One of the survey responses from a participant in the 71st FSS said, 'Both Capt. Gusty Miller and 1st Lt. Kevin Slaughter did an outstanding job. Best Wingman Day ever...'"