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Air Force captain and team top three of 7 Summit Challenge

  • Published
  • By Sheila Rupp
  • Kirtland AFB Nucleus, military community news
KIRTLAND AFB, N.M. --  Three people emerge over the peak of Mount Aconcagua - three people accomplishing a dream of setting foot atop the highest peak of South America. A large personal accomplishment, but an accomplishment for a much larger force: the U.S. Air Force.

Capt. Rob Marshall, 1st Lt. Heidi Hofstetter and Justin Henkel reached the peak of Mount Aconcagua, Argentina, Feb. 27 at about 5 p.m. Mountain Standard Time. The captain and lieutenant, under Air Force Recruiting Service's We Are All Recruiters program sponsorship, and Mr. Henkel, departed the United States Feb. 12 and made the long trip to Argentina.

The trio reached the peak and raised the Air Force flag climbing as part of the U.S. Air Force 7 Summits Challenge, which was co-founded by Captain Marshall, 71st Special Operations Squadron, Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M. Mount Aconcagua is the third of the seven peaks the 7 Summits Challenge team seeks to complete in the name of the Air Force. The goal of the challenge is to increase military morale, promote personal fitness and growth, raise awareness for a superb charity and let the American public see what sort of people are serving the nation in uniform, he said.

Captain Marshall founded the challenge with Capt. Mark Uberuaga, 21st Special Operations Squadron, Royal Air Force Mildenhall, England, with the dream that Airmen would climb to the highest peaks of each continent. Several years after first meeting, their dreams are realistic goals that they are achieving with Air Force pride.

"(The challenge) has grown arms and legs; it's really started to develop," Captain Marshall said. "With each peak completed it gets more and more real and hopefully soon, it'll start walking."

Captain Marshall climbed with the 7 Summit Challenge team in July 2005 to reach the summit of Mount Elbrus, Russia, and in July 2006 when he and a team reached the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Lieutenant Hofstetter, a C-130 pilot stationed at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, and Mr. Henkel, a former special operations intelligence officer, joined the 7 Summits Challenge for the first time in the Mount Aconcagua climb.
When the trio arrived in Argentina, they met up with their guides and more climbers in the city of Mendoza, where they acclimated to the city, time zone and elevation. Preparing for the arduous climb, the group took day hikes and treks out of the base camp. Each day, groups of climbers would come down the mountain with bad news of failed attempts, poor weather and bad conditions.

"We weren't really all that deterred, but we were still worried about the conditions - but even that made us even more determined to raise the Air Force flag," Captain Marshall said.

While at the base camp, the 7 Summits Challenge team practiced "cache-and-carry runs," trips to move unessential gear up to higher points in the climb and coming back down to sleep. Weather wasn't improving much during the week the trio spent at the base camp.

"Sitting at base camp and seeing climbers coming back down or (hearing about) destroyed tents was like getting to the front lines of a battle and seeing all the wounded coming back - it's disheartening but it makes you more determined," Captain Marshall said.

Luckily, the weather changed just before the challenge team, guides and group left in the push for the summit. During the first few days after leaving the base camp, the group spent a lot of time in their tents trying to keep warm and hoping the tents would hold up to the high winds.

The night before the summit, Captain Marshall said the group couldn't sleep because of the high winds and building excitement. The three were ready to go long before the rest of the group and the guides let them go on ahead to begin their final push.

"I think it was because we were military but we were ready to go on time and when we took off, we stayed in front of the group the whole time," he said.

The temperature hovered around 10 degrees, 20 degrees below zero when the wind chill was factored in. They reached the 22,841-foot summit Feb. 27, 10 hours after leaving the Berlin camp. The Air Force climbers were the only members of the group to reach the summit. They unfurled the Air Force flag and proudly raised it in the name of the force in blue.

Despite being physically exhausted, an adrenaline-filled Captain Marshall performed 50 push-ups in the name of the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, raising about $200 for the program that provides college scholarships and educational counseling for children of special operations members killed in training accidents or combat missions. The Mount Aconcagua trip raised about $3,000 for the foundation, bringing the 7 Summits Challenge fundraising effort to more than $15,000 for SOWF.

After basking in the remaining sunlight and enjoying the views from the peak, the trio had to begin the long trek back down the mountain to get into camp before sunset.

The team returned to the United States March 5. Captain Marshall said he hopes to climb the remaining four summits by 201l, although definite plans for the next peak climb are on hold due to military training schedules and operations.

Airmen interested in participating in the next climb can visit www.usaf7summits.com for information and to see pictures of past climbs.

The We Are All Recruiters program offers up to 12 days of permissive temporary duty status to Airmen participating in such events that contribute to the recruiting mission by attracting a large, general audience within the 17-24 year-old recruiting range. For more information, visit the We Are All Recruiters link on the AFRS Web site at www.rs.af.mil.