Photo By Sgt. SeoWon Lee | The Republic of Korea Army Soldiers from the 26th Infantry Division participated in...... read more read more
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CAMP HOVEY, South Korea – Soldiers from the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division participated in the “Combined Warrior Road Master Competition,” also known as the 2nd Infantry Division truck rodeo, at Camp Mobile, South Korea, Oct. 14-16.
The truck rodeo consisted of events dedicated for maintaining military vehicles, conducting operations related with vehicle recovery, and driving the vehicles in limited situations.
The events included Korean driver sign tests, conducting hasty tow bar recovery, preventive maintenance checks and services, tie downs, light medium tactical vehicle serpentine, palletized load system serpentine, applying snow chains, and pushing high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle.
The competition was held among the battalions in each brigade within the 2nd Inf. Div. at first. Two teams were chosen from those events and were brought to the division level competition, which was held after a week. The Republic of Korea Army Soldiers from the 26th Infantry Division were invited as well.
“Your ability to drive a truck, to back a trailer, to mount snow chains and take them off quickly and get that combat power into the fight and keep it into the fight is essential to our success,” said Col. Sean Bernabe, commander of the 2nd ABCT during the remarks from the 2nd ABCT competition award ceremony.
Within the 2nd ABCT “Black Jack” competition, 4th Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, was recognized as the winner. 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, was the runner up for the event.
The Soldiers were confident with their skills. They tried their best in the division competition where a total of eighteen teams participated including seven teams from the ROK Army.
Unfortunately, lady luck didn’t smile for them this time. The ROK Army Soldiers dominated the event, taking first, second and the third places. Even though the Black Jack Soldiers couldn’t win the competition, they were still satisfied.
“The event was pretty fun,” said Spc. Zachariah Garner, a petroleum supply specialist from the Forward Support Company G, 1-5 Cav. “It was competitive. It was good to see everybody out here competing against each other, so overall it was fun.”
“You know you can’t win them all,” said Pfc. Michael Porter, a petroleum supply specialist from the FSC D, 4-9 Cav. “There are always events people struggle at. Coming out of the brigade competition as the first place, we had high hopes. We did well, but stuff didn’t line up in our way this time.”
The loss in the competition was a bittersweet experience. However, the Black Jack Soldiers didn’t get frustrated. Instead, they used it as an opportunity to step forward. They learned from their mistakes and from other competitors.
“(For the next time) we need to be more mentally prepared,” said Porter. “We need to get our heads in the game, whatever happens we just need to keep on pushing. Also, we need to practice more before we go to the competition.”
“The roughest one for us was timed dummy PMCS,” said Porter. “We had little struggle on that because we didn’t find all the dummy faults. We actually found the actual faults, but that didn’t count for us. Next time, we will ask more questions trying to get things more in order and make sure we get things done.”
Watching ROK Army Soldiers perform their tasks with their own vehicles, the Soldiers could also learn about their ally’s capability.
“There are differences in the ROK Army when they do their things,” said Garner. “Because I’ve never seen, worked or driven their vehicle before, it was good to see them.”
After working out around five days together, the Soldiers were able to build camaraderie and enhance the unit cohesion. Everyone’s role was as important as the other’s. Teamwork was the key point for preparing and performing for the competition.
“The event was fun because it involved team work, and I could see other teams having fun as well,” said Spc. Jesus Cedillo, a motor transport operator from the FSC G, 1-5 Cav. “Basically evolving with your team from the first event and bonding knowing who’s doing what without telling everybody (were the factors that made the event enjoyable). So at the end, everybody knows what to do, and I think that’s good.”
The competition was over, but there was no regret. Soldiers were smiling as they left the stage.
“We had a great team,” said Porter. “We can’t do one without the other. We need to keep continuing on and go cavalry.”
“We are still going to win as Black Knights all the way,” said Garner.
| Date Taken: | 10.30.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 10.30.2015 04:03 |
| Story ID: | 180400 |
| Location: | CAMP MOBILE, 41, KR |
| Web Views: | 170 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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