Photo By Master Sgt. Victor Gardner | Members of Alpha Team, assigned to 1st Battalion, 363rd Regiment, 189th Infantry...... read more read more
DUBLIN, Calif. – First Battalion, 363rd Regiment, 189th Infantry Brigade, Division West Soldiers competed against each other during the first ever “Gunslinger Gallop” challenge during January’s battle assemble at Parks Reserve Training Area here, recently.
For three months, November through January, Soldiers from the 363rd experienced training designed to improve their understanding of troop leading procedures, the military decision making process and honing their craft as observer-coach/trainers.
The unit is filled with different levels of knowledge. The more experienced Soldiers took on an additional duty of mentoring the younger troops during training. Staff Sgt. Rosetta Little, the unit’s Nuclear Biological Chemical Staff noncommissioned officer, acknowledged the difference in the knowledge base between the least seasoned to the more affluent members of the unit.
“There are a lot of people at various levels of understanding in the unit,” Little said. “You should train to the lowest knowledge base to achieve results that stick in the Soldiers’ head.”
When asked about the training, Little said, “In November and December, we were in the crawl walk phases. We are at the run phase now with the Gallop, and I think we all have improved overall.”
The Gallop consisted of events such as vehicle recovery, reacting to a chemical attack, calling in a medical evacuation while providing aid to a downed pilot, a portion of the Leaders Reaction Course, and several other stations. Each event was designed to test a team’s military knowledge, teamwork and their ability to think “outside the box.”
One young NCO, Sgt. Ricardo Bareng, 1-363rd’s Unit Military Pay sergeant, liked the intensity of the competition.
“The Gallop was fun, and we [my teammates] found it more physically challenging than expected,” Bareng said. “Personally, I enjoy when you throw in the spirit of competition during training.”
That’s exactly what Sgt. 1st Class Robert Edwa, the unit’s Operations and Plans NCO, wanted to achieve when his section developed the “Gunslinger Gallop” concept.
“We wanted to break the cycle of training and make things fun for the Soldiers,” Edwa said. “Some Soldiers are saying it’s like 'The Amazing Race' and it is to the extent of having fun while competing and achieving our training mission.”
According to Edwa, the bottom line was to have the Soldiers act as independent thinkers within their teams and use lessons learned from previous training exercises as a reference to complete the competition. One of the final aspects of the training was to build esprit de corps among the teams.
“I think the teams are doing a lot of bonding and building motivation within their groups in order to complete each challenge,” Edwa said. “The course isn’t easy, and they’ll have to keep each other motivated in order to finish and still beat the other teams.”
In the end, Alpha Team narrowly beat out Bravo and Charlie teams to win the competition. As a complete unit, Alpha, Bravo and Charlie voted 2nd Lt. Patrick Vu, Bravo team member, as the most outstanding and motivated Soldier throughout the competition.
The 363rd Training Support Battalion, 189th Infantry Brigade, Division West, supports units throughout the complete training cycle to achieve collective training readiness in accordance with United States Armed Forces Command, First Army, and 189th Infantry Brigade directives in building competent and capable units able to meet the Army Force Generation requirements.
| Date Taken: | 01.21.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 01.21.2015 15:32 |
| Story ID: | 152404 |
| Location: | DUBLIN, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 87 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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