Capt. Lance Gower: from fitness failure to Iron Airman

Becoming an Iron Airman is physically and mentally challenging, requiring intense effort and dedication.

For Capt. Lance Gower, 20th Bomb Squadron B-52 Stratofortress copilot, joining the ranks of the Iron Airmen also meant overcoming failure.

"Before I left for a deployment to Guam, I failed the sit-up portion of my [physical training] test," Gower said. "My wife Kallie was getting ready to have a baby, and physical fitness really wasn't a priority for me at the time. I retook the test a month later and maxed my sit-ups, but that failure still bothered me. I wanted to do something about it."

While in Guam, Gower and others from his unit engaged in a new workout regimen to prepare them for the Iron Airman test. Many who began the program didn't complete it, but Gower made fitness his top priority and stuck with it. By the end of the deployment, he had lost 29 pounds and was in great shape.

"In addition to the extra workouts, I started logging everything I ate," Gower said. "It was pretty eye-opening to see how much I was actually eating and not even realizing it. So I gave up sweets and really kept an eye on my calorie intake, and it was surprising how quickly the weight dropped off. By the end of the program I really felt ready to compete for Iron Airman."

The Iron Airman challenge consists of four events that must be completed within 30 minutes: two minutes each of push-ups and sit-ups, pull-ups and a two-mile run for a maximum score of 400 points. Gower scored a 375, performing 140 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 30 pull-ups and a 13:59 run.

"No one else has done 140 push-ups in that two-minute time limit. It was really impressive," said Maj. Warren Carroll, former Iron Airman program coordinator, who administered Gower's test.

"It really comes down to self-motivation." Gower said. "When it comes to something like this, you really need to have a reason to keep going. The workouts are so intense and time-consuming that it's really easy to just stay in bed and decide to do it later. You need to find that thing that drives you and keeps you hungry."

If you think you have what it takes to become an Iron Airman, you can set up a testing appointment by emailing Capt. John Avery, Iron Airman program manager, at John.Avery.1@us.af.mil.