Courtesy Photo | A team checks in at the division parade field checkpoint during the Sapper Athlete...... read more read more
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FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. - The SAW Challenge is a monthly physical competition within the “Sapper Eagles” battalion designed to test soldiers’ mental and physical toughness while building esprit de corps and unit cohesion. Past challenges involved technical expertise, tactical expertise, and an overall physical toughness test using a 16-station circuit training course where the teams with the most repetitions took home the victory.
The most recent challenge was a scavenger hunt. It wasn’t just any scavenger hunt but a platoon-level urban orienteering running course around the grounds of Fort Campbell. Teams started the day by the Sapper Eagles headquarters and had to find five out of six predesignated points, check in at each point with their entire team and make it back to the finish line before any other team.
“Depending on the route that the team lead plotted, the run ranged anywhere from 5 to 6.5 miles,” said Capt. Jay Beeman, assistant operations officer for the Sapper Eagles. The SAW Challenges are one of the ways the 36th BEB gauges the effectiveness of their physical training program.
The battalion is also in the process of its Sapper Train-Up Program designed specifically for Sapper School hopefuls.
“[We] are part of the Sapper Train-Up so when we finish the run today, we also get to do pull-ups and some additional exercises,” said 2nd Lt. Dana Vanderlay, assistant to the chief of operations. The program is helping the engineer soldiers prepare physically and mentally for the rigors associated with the Army’s Sapper School held in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.
“This program is helping us all get better for the school, but it’s also helping us get stronger as a team for challenges like this,” said Vanderlay. “It’s made to make us think and work together to accomplish a mission no matter the task.”
Beeman has seen the benefits already.
“We’ve seen the level of motivation, excitement, comradery and just the overall level of sportsmanship come up over these last three iterations [of the challenge].”
Much like the crowning moment of professional sports, the Sapper Athlete Warrior Challenge holds its very own coveted trophy.
“It’s a barbed wire picket with the company placard on it with their branch colors, and we put it outside of that company for the month,” said Beeman. The trophy gets presented to the winning company after all of the points are tallied up. It gives the bearers exclusive bragging rights until the conclusion of the next challenge.
Beeman said the future SAW Challenges will incorporate more of the Air Assault Big 5 – marksmanship, physical fitness, battle drills, medical training and maintenance tasks – the division commander’s directives for a successful and strong eagle team.
The Sapper Eagles are planning to include marksmanship ranges and air assault training in upcoming competitions to further gauge the unit’s complete Soldier concept.
| Date Taken: | 08.13.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 12.02.2015 14:56 |
| Story ID: | 183300 |
| Location: | FORT CAMPBELL, KY, US |
| Web Views: | 49 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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