TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Are you ready to test your grit? Challenge your warrior ethos? Engage your critical thinking mastery? Lead the charge? If so, the Interallied Confederation of Reserve Officers Military Competition (CIOR) is for you!
CIOR will be sending out invitations to apply for this growth and leadership opportunity through Headquarters Air Reserve Personnel Center. The goal is to recruit and identify the best qualified officers to be considered for the Air Force Reserve School Selection Board in spring 2022.
The RSSB evaluates all applicants for the military competition, based on the whole person concept, military service experience, qualities, leadership attributes, academics and developmental education.
Established in 1957, CIOR MilComp is an internationally recognized competition that is focused on military skills that challenge the leadership and physical robustness of reservists from across NATO and its partners. It is highly relevant to deployment operations and developing resilient leaders as it trains and tests real warrior skills officers need to master for success and readiness on the current battlefield.
According to Maj. James M. Fink, commander of the 94th Aerial Port Squadron at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, and lead contact for the competition, “CIOR is a security cooperative and strategic partnership effort that builds relationships with our allies. Furthermore, MilComp is a friendly competition between nations and it showcases our abilities and our strengths as we learn from one another.”
Physical fitness, teamwork, land navigation, marksmanship, combat first aid, and armed conflict are significant parts of the three-day team competition, which requires each team member to complete the events together, with no exceptions.
The CIOR officers represent the interests of 1.3 million reservists across 36 participating nations within and beyond NATO, making CIOR the world’s largest military reserve officer organization. CIOR meets twice per year, in the summer and winter, with focus on working in select committees that examine issues and provides analysis relating to Reserve forces.
“Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) centrally funds three officers for MilComp thru the RSSB. The Reserve School Selection Board, however, can send enlisted members if they have unit funding to selection camp, and additional officers, too, can be selected and sent if they have unit funding,” explained Capt. Sterling Broadhead, 82nd Aerial Port Squadron operations officer at Travis.
Committee members serve three-year terms following selection. Additionally, there are annual opportunities to participate in workshops, languages, a learning academy plus the military competition to bring reserve officers around the world together.
Broadhead’s goal is to put together both male and female teams that are competitive. Teams are made up of three members; typically a team of three males and a team of three females. Because last year’s team included only one female, Broadhead said he hopes to send a viable team of three women from the 349th Air Mobility Wing to the 2022 competition.
“Applicants don’t necessarily have to be officers, but they do need to meet all of the criteria of running, swimming and shooting. This is the same criteria used to select females to go to selection camp,” said Broadhead.
The 2021 CIOR MilComp participant nations included Finland, Denmark, Estonia and Romania. Team USA sent 11 members, including four Air Force Reserve officers. Half of the team was comprised of enlisted Army Soldiers and one enlisted Air Force reservist.
“The Army is pushing to send 15 participants to selection camp,” said Broadhead. “Hopefully we can send five reservist. AFRC will centrally fund those whom they select.”
For the first week, RSSB selects arrived at the training camp that was staged in Burlington, Vermont where competitors participated in running and swimming events.
Lahti, Finland was the next location for the international training and multilateral competition. The camp provided pistol and obstacle course facilities. Orienteering training was also accomplished to practice team dynamics.
In the final days of training at Lahti, three U.S. male teams competed against one Finnish male team and one international male team. Also, one international female team that included a U.S. Army reservist rivaled a Danish female team.
The third and final week of the CIOR MilComp was staged in Sibiu, Romania. Team USA shifted its focus from competitor mode to collaborator. Their mission was to coach 45 Romanian reservists through the basics of the actual training. Each day was dedicated to a different skill. Land and water obstacles, rifle and pistol shooting, orienteering and a military skills hike filled the agenda.
For questions relating to CIOR MilComp, contacts for AFRC are Maj. James M. Fink, 478-235-6088 and Capt. Sterling Broadhead, 208-251-0189. Members can apply through the website: https://us-cior-milcomp.com/application/