Sandbags and body armor: Arrowhead Soldiers compete in Iron Patriot competition

Photo By 1st Sgt. Justin A. Naylor | A U.S. Army Soldier with Company A, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, climbs a rope during the Iron Patriot competition at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., Feb. 18, 2015. This competition was a chance for Soldiers to test their physical fitness level against their teammates.  

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WA, UNITED STATES

02.20.2015

Story by Staff Sgt. Justin A. Naylor 

1-2 SBCT, 7th Infantry Division

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. – With a light cover of early morning clouds and a dark Mt. Rainier looming in the background, the Soldiers huffed and puffed and pushed with all their might. Their pained grunts and sharp exhales could be heard from across field as they put every ounce of energy into winning.

For Soldiers with Company A, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, just finishing every event was a challenge during the Iron Patriot competition at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., Feb. 18.

The competition started early like most things that Soldiers do. Before the sun had risen, the first group of Soldiers had already begun that multi-obstacle event.

It started out with a simple run around the track while wearing body armor; well, except for the one Soldier from each team who had to climb up nearly 20 feet up a rope from the get go.

“It’s all these pretty intense workouts and carries that you do,” said Pfc. Refugio Guerrero, a Riverside, Calif., native, and radio transmission operator with Company A.

The events were designed to simulate tasks that Soldiers might encounter on the battlefield and include pulling a litter with weight similar to an adult body, climbing a wall, and running while wearing body armor.

Most Soldiers in the unit had done this competition at least once before, but this was Guerrero’s first time to experience many of the muscle-draining workouts.

“Well, they suck,” he joked.

For Guerrero the course was a display of just how much physical strength and endurance is expected from infantry Soldiers.

I’ve got to get better and faster at it,” he said. “It was a good learning experience. It was really tiring.”

For the leaders who helped plan the event, it was a chance to build unit cohesion through a good-ol’-fashioned group sweat session.

“Most of them use it as competition against each other, especially since it is being timed,” said 2nd Lt. Pablo Benitez, a Los Angeles native and platoon leader with Company A. “It’s definitely a smoker, but people look forward to it. There are bragging rights.”

The winners are dubbed “Iron Patriots” until the next competition, proving to their teammates that they are the most physically fit.

“People want to compete for that,” Benitez said.

Although these Soldiers workout as a unit at least five days a week, this competition is designed to strain them past the point of exhaustion.

“A lot of it is just knowing that you have to push all the way through it,” Benitez said. “You train for it is as much as you can, but in the end you’re just giving it your all.”

• Date Taken: 02.20.2015
• Date Posted: 02.20.2015 11:11
• Story ID: 154988
• Location: JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WA, US
• Hometown: LOS ANGELES, CA, US
• Hometown: RIVERSIDE, CA, US