Exercise Port Hawg Challenge 2025, hosted by 8 Wing Trenton September 19, featured six challenges testing the operational readiness and logistical skills of 10 teams of Canadian Armed Forces’ traffic technicians, loadmasters and instructors.
14 Wing Greenwood members who attended as “The East Coast Slingers” included 14 Mission Support Squadron’s Corporal Amy Cuming, Corporal Nicholas Fraser, Master Corporal Leonard Forman, Master Corporal Ryder Smith, Master Corporal Ryan Robertson and Sergeant Callum MacIsaac.
The 2025 Port Hawg challenge saw teams compete, including loadmasters and instructors from 424, 426, 427 and 437 squadrons, and traffic tech from various wings and bases from all over Canada; including Greenwood, Bagotville, Montreal, Petawawa, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Comox. Events included a cargo build up and paperwork verification, weight and balance, forklift obstacle course and fitness challenge.
The East Coast Slingers secured seventh place overall, with a strong performance across all six challenging events. They excelled in the pallet build-up event, vetting their documentation and building loads with precision and speed. They also demonstrated steamwork and adaptability, outperforming others through some events despite no prior knowledge of event specifics.
The Port Hawg resurged in 2021 for the traffic technicians’ trade 70th anniversary and reunion. It was inspired from traffic tech rodeos that used be run in Trenton, when the trade was much bigger. Port Hawg gained more traction in 2022, when 2 Air Movements Squadron sent a team to McChord Air Force Base in Tacoma, Washington, to compete in the 62 Airlift Wing’s Port Dawg Rodeo. The Port Dawg is a competition for the United States equivalent of Canadian military traffic techs (called Port Dawgs), pitting dozens of teams in friendly competition designed to challenge and showcase their skills. In 2024, 2 Air Mov was invited to the Port Dawg Challenge at Dobbins Air Force Base in Marrietta, Georgia (its normal location), placing slightly better than mid-field out of almost 30 teams from all over the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. Later in 2024, 2 Air Mov held its first official Port Hawg, devoted to Canadian traffic tech skills, including events such as cargo build up and paperwork confirmation, a forklift obstacle course, a vehicle weight and balance and fitness challenge.
In 2026, 2 Air Movements Squadron plans to send another team to Georgia to compete in an anticipated larger Port Dawg event, with even more international teams attending.
