Part of the US Air Force's job is to maintain a nuclear arsenal. And once a year, the 450 best missile and bomb operators show off their skills at the Global Strike Challenge. It's all about dexterity and speed — from moving warheads by forklift to dropping bombs on specified targets. The weapons are real, and the competition fierce.

Photographer Andrew Hetherington got to see the expertise up close two years ago at the Whitman Air Force Base in Missouri on assignment for New York Magazine. He documented the two Whiteman weapons loading teams as they assembled, prepared, and loaded bombs onto aircraft. Even though it's a friendly competition, stakes are high. "They take their jobs very seriously," he says. "You're around something technologically stunning, that's also a death machine."

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The first Global Strike Challenge took place six years ago, but iterations of the competition have been around since the Cold War. Events are held at different bases across the country, where teams are evaluated for their skill at building, loading, and navigating (i.e. dropping) bombs and missiles. It's a huge source of pride and camaraderie for the Air Force, but it also serves a practical purpose: to test proficiency at extremely dangerous tasks. Unit commanders act as judges, evaluating teams based on the specific skills needed for each real-world operation and offering feedback on how to improve execution.

Hetherington wasn't allowed near the planes dropping nukes, but he did hang out during the B-2 bomber building competition. The team hustled about nimbly putting bombs together, barking "encouragement" along the way. After it was over, judges collected scores which were compared to teams across the country. One of the Whiteman teams took home the Fairchild Trophy for Best Bomb Wing, awarded at a ceremony at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana a few months later.