Photo By Staff Sgt. Ian Kummer | California Army National Guard Soldiers exit the gas chamber during the Chemical,...... read more read more
Subscribe
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. - The Army's grueling Best Warrior Competition challenges a competing Soldier in just about every way imaginable. The competitor must use every ounce of his strength to compete in a series of events, ranging from scrambling over obstacles to running across harsh terrain while wearing a 35-pound pack.
But the competitor must also be able to apply his military training and use critical thinking – even when he is physically and mentally exhausted from the day's events. He must be able to effectively apply first aid to a dummy, or conduct an interview with a reporter immediately after finishing a challenging combat exercise. He must be able to finish a long run over rough terrain and still be able to get his thoughts together for a written test a few minutes later.
BWC is not won by just the best runners, the best shooters or the best combat lifesavers. BWC is won by the most well-rounded Soldiers.
Fourteen Soldiers from the California Army National Guard were competitors at the state's BWC, hosted by the 223rd Regional Training Institute (RTI) Oct. 19-23 at Camp San Luis Obispo. Half of the competitors were junior enlisted Soldiers; the other half were noncommissioned officers.
On Oct. 19, a Sunday, the Soldiers' traveled to Camp San Luis Obispo. They made their way to the camp and settled down in the barracks. The night was spent recuperating from the travel day, staging gear, hydrating and rehearsing for the challenges ahead.
Day 1
The first day of the competition kicked off with an Army Physical Fitness Test consisting of a situp event, a pushup event and a 2-mile run. Afterward, the competitors returned to their barracks to change into their Army service uniforms for a board interview.
The board quizzed the Soldiers, testing each Soldier’s knowledge and professionalism. This was also the first test of the bond between the competitors and their sponsors. Each of the competitors was accompanied by a sponsor – an noncommissioned officer responsible for ensuring that the Soldier was fully trained and prepared for BWC and supplied with everything needed for each event.
“A lot of people don't realize this is actually a team competition – the Soldier competes and the sponsor trains,” said Sgt. Joseph Westwood from the 1040th Quartermaster Company, 340th Brigade Support Battalion, 150th Troop Command. “... if the sponsor isn't squared away, then the Soldier isn't squared away, and they can never win if they don't have that support.”
Many of the sponsors are former competitors, making them uniquely qualified for the role. Staff Sgt. Alex Zonio, from the 95th Civil Support Team (CST), competed last year. This time around he doubled down on the challenge by sponsoring two different Soldiers – Sgt. Michael Evans and Sgt. Damian Rubio, both from the 95th CST.
“The Soldiers and NCOs are going to be really tired, really smoked, so they need somebody to get them to the right place at the right time in the right uniform,” Zonio said. “We're just there to give them some advice and coach them up and also motivate [them].
After the board interviews, the competitors and sponsors returned to the barracks for the evening. Though this was a day of stiff competition in which every second saved on the run, every extra push-up or sit-up and every correctly answered board question mattered – this would prove to be by far the easiest day of BWC. There were much greater challenges yet to come.
Day 2
The second day started off with a “React to Contact” event – a timed test requiring marksmanship and combat lifesaver skills.
The competitors staged behind a building where they couldn't catch a glimpse of the testing area. One by one they were called upon to be evaluated. The event started in a Humvee rollover simulator – a machine that Soldiers gain familiarity with during required training before most military deployments overseas. After the disorienting experience of the rollover, the competitors climbed out and ran outside the building. Their next task was to take cover near a simulated casualty in the form of a dummy, and engage a series of targets with a paintball rifle. To make things more realistic, the thundering cracks of an air compressor simulated enemy fire. The competitors had to keep their cool and correctly apply a tourniquet to the dummy's leg wound and call in a medevac report using a nearby radio.
Spc. Joshua Fernandez, a former active duty troop currently with Company A, 1st Battalion, 184th Regiment, 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, was sponsored by Sgt. Justin Day who has been Fernandez's squad leader since Fernandez first joined the California Guard.
“We're pretty close and I think that's important for a competitor and a sponsor,” Fernandez said. “The sponsor needs to know how the competitor works and the competitor needs to know how the sponsor works so they can get along and work together as best as possible.”
There was just one problem – the two Soldiers live more than a 5-hour drive apart. Almost all of their preparation had to be done separately.
“[Day] would call me and say ‘study this’ or ‘go on this website and study this’ and I trained on my own,” Fernandez said.
Despite this challenge, Day expressed confidence in Fernandez's ability to train and prepare for BWC.
“You should be a pretty well-honed Soldier before you get here,” Day said. “The sponsor's role is to pick out small details that need to be fixed... tighten up little things that need to be fixed before the competition.”
After every competitor had completed the React to Contact event, the Soldiers were split into groups to be whisked away by a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter to Camp Roberts for the next event – the Unknown Distance Ruck March.
Once at the landing zone, the competitors staged for the march. This was more than a simple ruck march. The competitors, each carrying a 35-pound pack, were given points to find with their maps and compasses, much like a typical land navigation course. But each point in their route involved a separate event testing the competitors' knowledge of five different weapons: the M16, the M9 pistol, the M249 light machine gun, the M2 Browning .50-caliber machine gun and the Mk19 grenade launcher. Each weapon needed to be disassembled, reassembled and function checked. If any one of these steps was completed incorrectly, that competitor would fail that station and would receive a lower score in the overall ruck march.
“The role of the sponsor is very important because you can make or break that event for that Soldier,” said Staff Sgt. Vianey Bronson, from Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 223rd Regional Training Institute, and sponsor for Sgt. Marta Petrenko, one of the two female competitors at BWC. “You have to prepare yourselves to prepare them.”
All of the competitors made it through the day safely, in no small part thanks to the sponsors. As the competitors pushed themselves across the finish line, their sponsors would quickly approach to ease the exhausted Soldiers out of their gear and take off their soaked socks and boots.
Sunset arrived and everyone assembled for a bus trip back to the Camp SLO barracks. The longest and perhaps most intimidating event of the BWC was complete, but the competition was far from over.
Day 3
The third sunrise of BWC was met with gunfire. This was a day of events familiar to every Soldier present, but no less challenging – marksmanship, a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear training test and a night land navigation course.
After completing basic qualification courses with the M16 and M9 pistol, the competitors raced through the “Fight to your Rifle” event – a course of fire requiring the competitor to move and shoot at a series of targets and then pick up a rifle and engage a final series of targets.
Basic marksmanship is a core skill required of every Soldier, but like in any other event at BWC, good training and mentorship was key to success for many of the competitors. Evans, one of Zonio's two competitors, expressed appreciation for Zonio's personal experience.
“[The sponsor's] support is very important,” Evans said. “They make sure we are where we need to be, with the gear we need to bring, and making sure we have our minds right and can concentrate on the tasks themselves.”
Competitors and their sponsors who finished the shooting portion of the day moved on in small groups, picked up their protective masks and headed to the gas chamber. While a normal CBRN event is hardly a walk through a rose garden, this one was particularly noxious – even Soldiers standing downwind a quarter mile away from the building got a rude whiff of eye-watering tear gas. The final step of the CBRN event required the competitors to completely remove their protective masks and then correctly put them back on before exiting the chamber.
Zonio took his mask off right along with the competitors.
“That was a bad idea,” he said jokingly, still wheezing from the gas after stepping out of the chamber.
The day was capped with a night land navigation course. Glow sticks attached to their helmets and compasses at the ready, the competitors disappeared into the darkness. Like in the other events, safety was a top priority. RTI staff patrolled the course ready to respond to an emergency. Though the competitors weren't allowed to use white light to find their points, they could use a white light to signal for help if a mishap occurred.
Now there was only one day of competition left. Even competitors who feared they were lagging behind still had a chance to redeem themselves in the four events on the final day.
Day 4
The last day of BWC kicked off with the Unknown Distance Run. The competitors had no idea how long or far they would have to go before reaching the finish line, making this not just a test of strength, but of motivation. To score well in this event, competitors had to push themselves as they ran hill after hill without getting discouraged.
Even after the last competitors crossed the finish line, the fun had only just begun. While still trying to catch their breath from the run, the competitors were presented with a written exam. After the exam, the Soldiers gathered in the bleachers for a visit by Marine Corps Sgt. Maj. Bryan B. Battaglia, senior enlisted advisor to the United States Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Battaglia had never seen a BWC before and expressed support for the Soldiers and admired their motivation.
Following their meeting with Battaglia, the competitors' next physical challenge was the Urban Operations event. Each competitor would have to go through a series of three exercises: a grenade throwing range, a room clearing drill, and firing the M320 Grenade Launcher Module. Urban terrain can be one of the most confusing and challenging environments to operate in, making it an ideal scenario for BWC.
The Soldiers took a quick break for lunch before the final and one of the most intense challenges of the competition – the obstacle course. In this timed event the competitors had to overcome a series of obstacles and drills ranging from sprints to rope climbing to body drags.
After four long days, the competition finally came to an end. The competitors now could only go home and wait with bated breath for the announcement of the overall winners of the competition, which will not happen until the upcoming Soldier and Airmen of the Year banquet in January. The winners then advance to a regional competition.
“Winning the competition would be huge,” said Spc. Mark Thomas, a Santa Rosa native from the 270th Military Police Company, 185th Military Police Battalion, 49th Military Police Brigade. “It would show myself I could overcome what I previously thought were my limitations.”
Thomas entered BWC accompanied by his platoon sergeant, Sgt. 1st Class Camelia Straughn. Straughn has only been in the company since July, and almost immediately took on the role as Thomas's sponsor. She spent nearly four months preparing him for the challenges of BWC and ensuring he was ready for it.
“For us the hardest part was the interview board,” Straughn said. “Preparing him for the information he would have to give to the board was the biggest challenge.”
The RTI, which runs the BWC event every year, has boiled the competition down to a science, making adjustments and improvements based on lessons learned from previous cycles.
“I don't think you have any better instructors in the state of California,” said Command Sgt. Major Michael Baker of the 223rd RTI. “They're the best.”
| Date Taken: | 10.23.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 10.29.2014 02:56 |
| Story ID: | 146395 |
| Location: | SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 276 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, California Guard Soldiers rock Best Warrior Competition, by SSG Ian Kummer, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT