101st Chemical Company Annual AWT Squad Competition

FORT BRAGG, N.C. - The 101st Chemical Company held its annual Army Warrior Task squad competition Aug. 3-7 on Fort Bragg, N.C. Six squads with five Soldiers each competed in the events.

The squads competed in various events that included land navigation, weapon courses, lane training, an obstacle course run and a combatives tournament.

The competition for the company helps to re-instill teamwork and esprite de corps for the Soldiers who participate.

"Competition such as this instills a warrior ethos in a Soldier," said Sgt. 1st Class Jorge Arzabala, a platoon sergeant with the company. "Army warrior tasks are tasks that develop a Soldier at level 1. These are common tasks that Soldiers are required to know which is put into realistic scenarios."

The first event of the squad competition was the Army physical fitness test. Soldiers conducted the APFT in their ACU trousers, company shirt and soft sole shoes. After the squads had finished their pushups and situps, they ended the event with a two-mile run on a sandy road.

"The trail we went on worked our calves and gave them a good work out," said Spc. Leida N. Perez.

An hour after the APFT event, the squads readied themselves to take on the land navigation event. The event challenged the squads to recall their warrior training as they had to plot their course to each land mark. Traversing the land navigation range was no easy task as the squads were made to travel through thick brush, leap over gullies and around old rusty strands of barbwire.

"The land navigation gave you a feel for all types of terrain such as woods, marsh and sand," said Cpl. Joshua S. Sagler, assitant squad leader for the maintenance squad. "It makes it a challenge to keep your pace count."

The squads had to participate in weapons qualification that included M16, M249, and hand grenade courses. The hand grenade course required the Soldiers participating to throw two live grenades each.

Once the squads had completed the weapons ranges, they moved on to the lane training portion for the squad competition. The event required each squad to respond to a disabled high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle, or Humvee. At the Humvee enemy combatants stood waiting for the squad as a wounded Soldier cried out for help. The second portion of the lane involved identifying and negotiating around an improvised explosive device.

However, each squad didn't do as well as expected in rescuing a wounded Soldier on the lane training event.

"It was set up like a real situation, broken down vehicle, casualty, and there's always a threat of an ambush," said Pfc. Michael P. Swalm, a light wheel mechanic with the maintenance section. "There's a hundred ways to react to the scenarios to handle the situation. We picked a way and stuck to it, but it didn't work out for the best."

The powerhouse run and obstacle courses were next for the squads. On the powerhouse run the squads conducted a march that required each squad to perform various tasks such as the litter carry, high crawling through mud and wading across McKellars Lake, which is located on Fort Bragg.

No rest was given for the squads after they had finished their powerhouse run. They continued on with the obstacle course. Squad members had to leap over hurdles and conduct a rope and wall climb.

"It makes you feel like a Soldier when you're traversing thorough obstacles," said Spc. Catalina Nguyen, a chemical operations specialist with 1st platoon.

She said she went through three obstacles on the obstacle course immediately after the powerhouse run.

The combatives tournament was the final event for the squads. Squad members were broken up into different weight classes prior to competing. Soldiers within the company came to watch and cheer on their fellow Soldiers.

Pvt. Jose A. Soto, a squad member with 2nd platoon, champion of the lightweight male category, said he enjoyed the combatives event and was glad to put his training in practice.

"You always use your weapon but you might not be able to use it in combat," he said.

The participants of the company's annual AWT squad competition were congratulated by the members of the 101st Chemical Company after the final event. The winning squad of the competition were the Soldiers with 3rd platoon. The members of the entire squad are to be recommended for the Army Achievement Medal.