Photo By Staff Sgt. Francis Horton | Sgt. 1st Class John Dodds, noncommissioned officer in charge, 856th Transportation...... read more read more
WELDON SPRING, Mo. – A convoy of Humvees rolls slowly down a gravel road toward an ambush point. Soldiers in their vehicles are braced for the unknown, but first, they need to navigate around a group of orange cones set up in a serpentine.
Soldiers were in Weldon Spring, Mo., Sept. 21 participating in the 3rd annual driver’s rodeo held by the 620th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion out of St. Louis.
“We wanted to engage the soldiers as much as possible,” said Staff Sgt. Tor Peterson, noncommissioned officer in charge of opposing forces for the 620th.
The driver’s rodeo tested the skills of Army drivers in tactical vehicles. However, this year the 620th stepped up the competition.
“I’ve done two previous driver’s rodeos with battalions and those were just cones set up in a parking lot,” said Spc. Robert Hatty, petroleum supply specialist, 383rd Quartermaster Company out of Weldon Spring, Mo. “This had a lot of other training mixed in.”
This is the first time the 620th included Warrior Training Tasks peppered in with the driver’s rodeo events. Competing participants reacted to simulated roadside ambushes, radioed for medical evacuations and navigated roadblocks.
“We coordinated…to get training support items to help make some of the warrior tasks more realistic,” said Sgt. 1st Class Jeffrey Turley, noncommissioned officer in charge of the driver's rodeo.
Simulated improvised explosive devices and M2 .50-caliber machine guns were set up at ambush points to add realism.
Six units participated in the event with three soldiers to a team. They were graded on vehicle knowledge, four driving events and two randomly chosen warrior tasks. By the end of the competition, two teams were tied for first, which resulted in a sudden death vehicle knowledge trivia match.
The winning soldiers received individual medals and a unit trophy to display until next year’s driver’s rodeo. They were also awarded Army achievement medals.
Though this year was a step up from the previous rodeos, organizers hope to keep expanding and improving the event.
“Next year we hope to have more participants and more people to help run the rodeo for more lanes,” Turley said.
Expanding the event also means a chance to bring in more units to compete for the honors.
“It’s a lot better training this year,” Hatty said. “Personnel that weren’t able to participate in this, I think the buzz will make them want to sign up next year.”
| Date Taken: | 09.21.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 09.23.2013 22:48 |
| Story ID: | 114138 |
| Location: | WELDON SPRING, MO, US |
| Hometown: | ST. LOUIS, MO, US |
| Web Views: | 159 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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