The Gaming Airman: GFAFB Airmen find new way to foster wingmanship

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Ryan Sparks
  • 319th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
Intramural sports have been a staple of life on Air Force bases for a long time. It is a way for Airmen to connect with each other and become more involved on base. The new generation of Airmen has found another way to achieve that same goal. The "gaming" Airman has created a new way to connect.

Airman John Greenberg, 319th Logistics Readiness Squadron vehicle operator apprentice, feels that gaming helped his transition to Grand Forks Air Force Base.

"The day I got here the first question was, 'do you play games?'" said Greenberg. "It's an instant conversation starter."

Greenberg said he mostly plays games like Call of Duty and Titanfall on the Xbox One console. He said that the rest of his shop play games as well, and this helped him feel like part of the team.

"I made instant friends with my entire shop," said Greenberg. "Sometimes meeting new people can get awkward and gaming makes it easy to talk."

However, an important aspect of any hobby is knowing how to balance time.

Airman Brandon Wade, 319th Communications Squadron information assurance apprentice, plays a big role in his World of Warcraft guild. "I personally spend a lot of time playing games," said Wade.

Wade said balancing his time isn't very hard. He mostly plays games like World of Warcraft and League of Legends on his computer. He makes sure to take care of anything he needs to do for work first.

Greenberg also said balancing his time is easy.

"From 7:30 in the morning to 4:30 in the afternoon all my time is devoted to work," said Greenberg. He said that gaming is more of a hobby that he only does during spare time. Greenberg has a simple view of his priorities.

"The mission comes first," said Greenberg. "You have your positives and negatives with everything. It's just something you have to control."

Wade and Greenberg feel accessibility is a reason why so many Airmen are becoming gamers.

"It's not just consoles," said Greenberg. "It's everything from your phone to your computers and consoles."

"Almost everyone has a computer," added Wade. "If you have a laptop you can access it anywhere as long as you have internet access. It could be raining and you can just go inside and play."

Wade and Greenberg both hope to see more organized tournaments to bring Airmen together. Wade feels that gaming is similar to sports that have leagues and tournaments.

"It's just a different type of sport," said Wade. He said all the mental cooperation and teamwork required in sports is required for gaming.

Finding ways for Airmen to connect to each other is a vital part of the wingmanship concept. The new generation of Airman has found a way to interact that can be used by all types of people. Gaming is a new phenomenon that Airmen at Grand Forks AFB have embraced.