Photo By Staff Sgt. Michael Pryor | Fort Carson, Colo. native Pfc. Jeremy Garduno, a mortarman with Headquarters Company,...... read more read more
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By Staff Sgt. Mike Pryor
FORT BRAGG, N.C. – A 40-foot low crawl through the mud beneath tangles of barbed wire might not sound like a good time to most people, but to Pfc. Jeremy Garduno, it's something to savor.
Less than a year ago, Garduno was briefly paralyzed when his vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Iraq. Although he eventually made a full recovery, the young Paratrooper thought for a time that he would never move again. After that, he said, just being able to run and jump is an accomplishment.
So it was an even prouder achievement for Garduno when he was able to compete in and finish the grueling Team Assault obstacle course competition as part of the 82nd Airborne Division's All American Week celebration.
"It feels good to be able to do it. I feel really proud," said Garduno, a Fort Carson, Colo. native assigned as a mortar man with Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division.
Garduno's accomplishment was just one example of the grit and determination on display as hundreds of 82nd Airborne Paratroopers competed in the All American Week 2008 Team Assault event May 19 – 21 at the Air Assault School obstacle course across from Pike Field.
Garduno participated as a member of the nine-man team fielded by 2nd Battalion, 325th A.I.R., 2nd BCT. Nearly every battalion in the Division entered a team in the competition.
The course featured nine extremely challenging obstacles, including a 50-foot tower, a rope climb, a mud-drenched low-crawl lane, and a log jump which required competitors to belly flop onto a huge tree trunk and hurl themselves over it. The event was scored by time, with the most points going to the team that finished first and with the fewest penalties.
"The objective of the course is to start and finish as a team," said the noncommissioned officer in charge of the event, Staff Sgt. James Graves, of Company B, 122nd Support Battalion, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade.
Graves said the course is tougher than it may first appear, and demands endurance. Judging by the groans and grimaces observed as contestants struggled through the obstacles, not everybody came in to the event fully prepared, Graves said.
"I think some of these guys thought it was going to be a little easier than it really was," he said with a laugh.
Sgt. Tyler Bzdelik, of Company A, 2nd Bn., 325th A.I.R., said he had practiced the course before the competition so he would be ready for the challenge. But on the big day, with unit pride and trash-talking rights on the line, he had to step it up a notch, he said.
"It's definitely more stressful in competition," Bzdelik said. "The pressure is on you a little more."
Adding to the pressure for Garduno's 2nd Battalion team was the fact that the team members hadn't had a chance to train together before they ran the course. Still, they gritted it out and fought their way through the different obstacles. At the low-crawl station, one of the team members got seriously hung-up. The rest of the team had already staggered across the finish line when they saw him lagging behind. Without thinking, the tired, mud-crusted paratroopers turned back around and ran out to encourage the straggler. In the end, they all crossed the finish line together.
"No one really knew each other before today, but we all came together as a team," Garduno said afterwards. "No one got left behind."
| Date Taken: | 05.20.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 05.20.2008 15:55 |
| Story ID: | 19635 |
| Location: | FORT BRAGG, NC, US |
| Web Views: | 709 |
| Downloads: | 242 |
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