Soldiers earn Silver Spurs

Courtesy Photo | Spc. Patrick P. Julch, light-wheel vehicle mechanic and a Sioux City, Iowa, native with the 394th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 3rd Sustainment Brigade, 103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), sits patiently as the silver spurs that he has earned are placed on his boots by his sponsor. (U.S. Army photo by Capt. Julie A. Perry)  

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE SPEICHER, IRAQ

03.17.2011

Courtesy Story

3rd Division Sustainment Brigade

by Staff Sgt. Constance A. Oberg

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE SPEICHER, Iraq – “Halfway down the trail to Hell, in a shady meadow green, are the Souls of all dead troopers camped, near a good old-time canteen, and this eternal resting place is known as Fiddler’s Green.”

This was just the first of four paragraphs that 36 Soldiers recited numerous times during their recent spur ride held at Contingency Operating Base Speicher, Iraq.

“Cavalry is big on tradition,” said Capt. Julie Perry, a Wellesley, Mass., native and the Headquarters and Headquarters Troop commander with United States Forces-Iraq’s Task Force Observe Detect Identify Neutralize. “The spur ride was a way for us to instill some tradition and esprit de corps.”

The spur ride is the only means of joining the Order of the Spur, aside from wartime induction. According to Perry, the spur ride is an event normally held over multiple days, but since time and conditions don’t quite allow it while being deployed, it was held in one day. A Soldier must still pass a series of physical and mental tests that evaluate leadership, technical and tactical proficiency, and the ability to operate as part of a team under high levels of stress and fatigue.

Cavalry soldiers are not the only ones who can compete in the spur ride. Soldiers from other units can be invited to participate.
Spc. Patrick P. Julch, a light-wheel-vehicle mechanic with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 394th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 3rd Sustainment Brigade, 103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), and a Sioux City, Iowa, native, contacted Task Force ODIN and was invited to do the spur ride.

Julch had previously deployed with a cavalry unit out of Lemars, Iowa, and was awarded a Stetson and gold combat spurs, but he had never been given the chance to do a spur ride to earn his silver spurs, which most cavalry troops consider more prestigious.

“This is one of the best feelings I have ever had,” Julch said. “It really showed you can be a member of a team, taking soldiers from other units, putting them together in a squad, giving them a series of challenges to complete.”

Each soldier who participates has a sponsor, whose responsibility is to give the soldier the application and study guide, and to motivate them.

Capt. John L. Craven, chaplain for United States Forces-Iraq’s Task Force ODIN, and an Atlanta native, was the sponsor for Capt. Joshua Cox, chaplain with HHC, 394th CSSB, and a Leon, Iowa, native.
“Chaplain Craven told me of this awesome event called a spur ride and asked me if I would like to try it,” Cox said. “It lets the soldiers see that the chaplain is a soldier just like everyone else out there.”

For Cox, it was an opportunity to be out there with the troops, to do what they do and to get a better perspective of what goes on in the lives of soldiers.

“The spur ride is meant to be physically and mentally tough,” Perry said. “It shows your true colors; you might be in pain from blisters or from being up for 15 hours, but it makes you realize what you can accomplish.”

The morning started off early with a physical training session.
“We had a lot of formations and switching of uniforms from ACU’s [Army Combat Uniform] to our PT [Physical Training] uniform throughout the day,” Julch said. “It also included a lot of times when the instructors told us we were wrong and to try it again, almost like basic training all over again.”

There were six-man teams taking on challenges such as a shuttle sprint with 20 push-ups, reacting to direct fire, litter carries, calling in a nine line MEDEVAC, clearing and performing a function check on an M4 rifle, crawling through a mud pit under barbed wire as a team, and 10-15 miles’ worth of road marching.

During one event the soldiers were blindfolded and had to walk through a simulated mine field to a Humvee. They were given commands from the truck on where to go, while carrying a tow bar and two tires. After reaching the truck the senior spur-holders had the soldiers stack everything while they were still blindfolded. Once they were done, they removed their blindfolds and pushed the Humvee back through the simulated minefield.

“It forced the soldiers to work together as a team, [with] soldiers they are not used to working with,” Perry said. “The goal at the end of the day is for them, as a team, to accomplish tasks they couldn’t do on their own, to accomplish more than they thought they could when they set out, and at the end of the day, you feel like you earned your spurs.”

The mental challenges tested the soldiers’ abilities also. They were instructed to read a cavalry-related book and write an information paper or book report of at least two pages summarizing the lessons they learned from the book. They were also given a 40-question test on cavalry history. Additionally, a senior spur-holder board was held near the end of the day, and once the spur candidates were already fatigued, they were asked a series of questions requiring an answer.

“The hardest challenge was staying mentally focused; it was very physically exhausting, leading your body to play mind games,” Cox said. “That was the most difficult thing, keeping your head in the game, just telling yourself it will be over at the end of the day.”
Cox was chosen as Most Valuable Player for his efforts throughout the day.

“I feel I have accomplished something that will help me to identify with not just cavalry troopers, but with all soldiers as I serve as a chaplain in the Army,” Cox said.

“Chaplain Cox’s nomination for MVP was nothing of my own,” Craven said. “The senior spur-holders at the end of the spur ride got together and made a decision on an individual that shows leadership, team, encouragement and endurance. Cox was the first person who came up a lot during this discussion. I personally was honored to put the silver spurs on this fine chaplain and also give him his certificate.”

Cox said that the spur ride was all about teamwork; that is what the event was centered around,

“If one soldier struggled with reciting the Fiddler’s Green poem, we would help them as much as we could,” he said. “It was all about ‘together as a team’ to complete the events.”

Perry said that after the spur ride was all done, the soldiers had gone above and beyond what their fellow soldiers have volunteered for.

“Spurs are a distinction you should be proud to wear.” Perry said.

• Date Taken: 03.17.2011
• Date Posted: 04.02.2011 16:56
• Story ID: 68174
• Location: CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE SPEICHER, IQ