Pacific’s premier engineer unit targets leader development

Photo By Sgt. Jon Heinrich | Soldiers from 84th Engineer Battalion, 130th Engineer Brigade, 8th Theater Sustainment Command, climb up and down The Weaver obstacle Oct. 29 at Schofield Barracks' East Range, Hawaii. As part of the battalion's Best Squad Competition, the squads had to complete five obstacles at the Confidence Course for the last lane of the WTBD. The competition was geared toward leader development and unit readiness within the squads while also strengthening cohesiveness amongst the Soldiers in each team through various exercises, drills and physical training. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Jon Heinrich, 8th Theater Sustainment Command/RELEASED)  

SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, HI, UNITED STATES

10.29.2014

Story by Sgt. Jon Heinrich 

8th Theater Sustainment Command

SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, Hawaii – Leader development begins the moment troops join the Army, but operating within a squad provides one of their first opportunities to demonstrate and foster that leadership as part of a cohesive team.

The 84th Engineer Battalion, 130th Engineer Brigade, emphasized, trained and tested those foundational squad-level skills through an intense 10-day Best Squad competition here Oct. 23-29.

The 36 competing squads battled the full range of weather as they negotiated three phases of the competition – the Army Physical Fitness Test, a stress shoot range, and the Warrior Task and Battle Drill Course – while constantly being evaluated on their ability to work together as a team of Army professionals.

Capt. Jesse Cain, the current operations officer for the battalion, said, the unit’s leadership wanted to break its formations down into smaller elements to truly evaluate and challenge Soldiers at the most fundamental levels.

The 8th Theater Sustainment Command battalion’s seven companies are constantly conducting a variety of vertical and horizontal construction missions throughout the Pacific theater, often times as platoon or squad-level elements in coordination with their joint and multinational counterparts.

Cain said that competitive training events like this give the unit confidence in its readiness, and “once [our troops] have gone through this type of an experience, it helps allow us to better prepared to be [U.S. Pacific Command’s] unit of choice when it comes to specific engineer needs in the region.”

The competition kicked off with the standard APFT, with each squad earning the average of its members’ scores, before day two when the troops attacked an intense stress shoot range held at the Infantry Demolition Range here.

“In this portion, basically we’re trying to determine which squad is the most proficient with their weapons through this range while also stressing them at the same time,” said 1st Lt. William Hinkely, the battalion plans officer and range officer in charge of the event.

Prior to engaging targets from multiple firing positions, squad members did burpee pushups, squats with their weapons, pulled a Skedco holding a simulated casualty up and down a hill, and then moved to the firing lane and conducting 20 more pushups, all while wearing full body armor and simultaneously reacting to an unexpected, “Gas, gas, gas!” alert.

“It gets you used to being uncomfortable while firing,” said Spc. Edward E. Martin IV, a heavy equipment operator and grenadier with 3rd Squad, 3rd Platoon., 523rd Engineer Company. “When you’re out there, you’re moving around, you don’t really have time to stop and catch your breath. It’s almost like being downrange.”

The WTBD course, the third and final event, consisted of a 10-kilometer (six mile) ruck march around East Range while negotiated task-driven lanes requiring them to conduct decontamination procedures in a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear environment, employ hand grenades, put together a radio, conduct a situation report, react to an improvised explosive device, and evaluate and evacuate a casualty, followed by a mystery event and confidence course.

After factoring each squads performance based on event execution and leadership and communication throughout the competition, the results were announced: First place - Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 84th Engineer Battalion; second place – 1st Squad, 3rd Platoon, 561st Engineer Company; and third place – 3rd Squad, 3rd Platoon, 561st Engineer Company.

The unit’s senior leadership and participating Soldiers agreed that the experience was just as much a learning, training, and teambuilding evaluation as it was a competition.

• Date Taken: 10.29.2014
• Date Posted: 11.05.2014 19:59
• Story ID: 147120
• Location: SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, HI, US