Run Julio, run

Photo By Staff Sgt. Hector Corea | Sgt. Julio Lopez, left, a unit supply specialist with the 393rd Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, and Sgt. Lance Clifford, right, an intelligence analyst with the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 364th Expeditionary Sustainment Command, look out the window of a CH-47 Chinook during the 2014 U.S. Army Reserve Best Warrior Competition at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., June 24. The CH-47 Chinook is a heavy troop and supply transport aircraft. Forty-two warrior-citizens from across the U.S. have come to compete in the USARC BWC, a multi-day training event designed to challenge participating Soldiers’ physical, mental and tactical abilities to determine the best qualifying Soldier and noncommissioned officer for advancement to the Department of the Army BWC. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Hector Corea)  

JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, NJ, UNITED STATES

06.25.2014

Story by Sgt. Hector Corea 

U.S. Army Reserve Command

JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. - As joints creaked and yawns echoed, 42 Soldiers stepped off the bus to prepare for a challenging physical test. Sgt. Julio Lopez Cintrón stretched from head to toe, awakening both body and mind.

“I’m ready to go!” exclaimed Lopez Cintrón, a unit supply specialist with the 393rd Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Combat Sustainment Support Battalion.

The Army Physical Fitness Test began with two minutes of pushups, two minutes of situps, and culminated with a 2-mile run. It is part of the much larger 2014 Army Reserve Best Warrior Competition, designed to test not only physical strength but courage and mettle, and see who can push themselves to their limits. The multi-day event consists of various Soldier tasks and battle drills, including an eight-mile ruck march, APFT, rifle marksmanship, land navigation and several mystery events.

Lopez Cintrón came a long way to reach the early morning twilight in the wooded landscape surrounding Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey.

The Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, native competed in two previous competitions at Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico, against more than 20 Soldiers to reach the 2014 USARC BWC.

With sweat rolling down his cheeks and the morning fog slowly lifting from the trees, Lopez followed the brim hats of drill sergeants to the 2-mile start line.

It takes heart – both literally and figuratively – to finish the 2-mile run in less than 13 minutes. Lopez was set on his goal and bounded from the start line focused on keeping pace.

“I chose to compete in the Best Warrior Competition, because I am a high-speed Soldier who likes extreme challenges,” said Lopez Cintrón.

His path to the 2014 USARC BWC was not easy; he prepared to compete while attending to his Web-based secondary studies through Grantham University.

He also made time for his two sons.

For Lopez Cintrón, his family is what keeps him going in the competition and what originally drove him to enlist.

“My father spent 20 years in the Army and retired as a major. And that makes me proud. … I like the way he carried himself, his rectitude, his character,” recalled Lopez Cintrón. “I wanted to follow in those footsteps and here I am.”

Footstep after footstep struck the gravel track where more than 40 competitors were pitted against time and distance. Lopez started off strong before the lactic acid simmered and burned the muscles in his legs. He kept going however. He wouldn’t stop.

“[Lopez Cintrón] is a tough warrior,” explained Sgt. 1st Class Dwayne Ramirez, an automated logistical specialist with the 393rd HHC, CSSB. Ramirez is Lopez Cintrón’s sponsor who provides moral support, encouragement, and training throughout the competition."

He brings something to the table, not only physically but mentally,” said Ramirez.

Lopez Cintrón mentioned that he was glad to be at the table, among some of the best Soldiers in the Army Reserve.

“I plan to make a career in the Army,” declared Lopez Cintrón. “And [the BWC] is very good for career progression.”

As the clock progressively ran down and the seconds passed by, Lopez saw the finish line at last. With loud cheers and strong encouragements, he sprinted to the end, finally relieved of the physical burden of the two-mile run. Lopez Cintrón wasn’t satisfied.

“I always live at the maximum,” said Lopez Cintrón. “I’m never satisfied with simply accomplishing a goal. I like giving it my maximum and reaching the highest level that I can.”

With days to go and many late nights and early wakeups ahead, Lopez Cintrón will have plenty of opportunities to test his maximum.

• Date Taken: 06.25.2014
• Date Posted: 06.25.2014 14:47
• Story ID: 134401
• Location: JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, NJ, US
• Hometown: GUAYNABO, PR