F.E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, Wyo. -- Resilient. Powerful. Skillful. The defenders of the 90th Security Forces Group gave it their all during the Crow Creek Challenge taking place in the early morning of Oct. 3, 2025.
Being a staple in F.E. Warren AFB tradition, the Crow Creek Challenge has been completed annually by defenders for 31 years. Each group that participates in the exercise break into at least five-person teams and ruck 4.8 miles across the base, stopping at stations and completing tasks tailored to touch on skills necessary for warfighting.
“It is a challenge where squadrons put together their best teams to showcase their strength, agility, teamwork and cleverness in order to overcome these obstacles,” said Technical Sgt. Terry Lucas, 90th Security Forces Squadron non-commissioned officer in charge of physical security and co-coordinator of the Crow Creek Challenge. “And at the end, we have the team pain, where they are put through the ringer and they will be recognized as such.”
Seven teams of defenders assigned to the 90 SFG participated in six different challenges that were both physically exerting and mentally taxing, testing the defenders physical abilities in running, lifting, crawling and swimming through many obstacles.
The stations included Tactical Combat Casualty Care, calisthenics, memorization, a ranger circuit, weapons disassembly and assembly and was finalized with “team pain.”
Team pain is a station defenders submerge their bodies in full uniform into the cold water and mud of Crow Creek. During this, they complete a series of calisthenic exercises, runs and trudge through the water holding a full ammo can over their heads.
Senior Airman William Sheldon, 90th Missile Security Forces Squadron missile security operator, was selected as a cadre to oversee the exercises and motivate contestants participating in this final station.
“You see every aspect of it, you see people that quit because it just gets too hard, which is understandable, this is not supposed to be easy,” said Sheldon. “But at the end of the day, you have people that embodied the true warrior mindset of being able to, even when you’re tired, even when your body hurts, your knees hurt, everything hurts, you're still able to not only rally up and continue doing what you're doing, but you are also doing it for the people around you and your team.”
With the conclusion of the 2025 Crow Creek Challenge, defenders of the 90 SFG came together and successfully demonstrated their dedication to physical fitness, teamwork and perseverance, while also boosting morale and teamwork.