Photo By Staff Sgt. Sarah Myrick | Sgt. Henry Bindbeutel, 251st engineers compay (sappers) finds his first point in the...... read more read more
The sun rises around the track on a crisp April morning as soldiers run the three mile event in a nontraditional army physical fitness test. One soldier follows the clear leader for two miles then confidently strides past him taking the lead with one mile to go. With each step, each deep breath, and each lap Sgt. Henry Bindbeutel, 251st engineer company (sappers) pushes himself remembering how hard he’s trained for this competition. He finishes first then humbly turns around to cheer on his fellow competitors during the second day of the best warrior competition.
Four noncommissioned officers and three soldiers from across Maine travelled to the Bangor Armed Forces Reserve Training Center to participate in the state level best warrior competition, an annual event that tests the soldiers’ physical and mental abilities to determine the best NCO and soldier of the year.
Bindbeutel said he wanted to take the competition seriously for his squad and his company. “I devoted a lot of late nights… I did a lot of PT and changed my diet to paleo,” he said, cutting out dairy and carbs. “I want my guys to know that their sergeant came here and did the very best that he could.”
Last fall Bindbeutel competed at the company and battalion levels and he’s had a few months to prepare for the state level competition.
“I’ve been taking a very comprehensive approach to my training. Leaving no stone unturned,” said Bindbeutel, “I have studied like I’ve never studied for any final in college. It’s like a flashcard bomb exploded in my apartment.”
The competition started Friday with a stress shoot and an oral board in front of three sergeant’s major judging him on appearance, knowledge and military bearing. After the non-traditional APFT Saturday morning, he and the other competitors went straight into a day land navigation course that had them running through swampy woods and fields. The day continued with a round robin style series of eight warrior tasks that included evaluating a casualty, reacting to chemical/biological hazards and reacting to an improvised explosive device. The day ended with a written test and the completion of a night land navigation course.
“These events were picked based on the army common warrior tasks,” said Sgt. Major John Brooks, operations sergeant major of the 120th RSG. “We look back on past regional and national competitions to see what will prepare our soldiers best.”
The competition was originally established as a three part event said Brooks; an appearance board, an APFT and a weapons qualification. “As the wars kicked sergeant’s major at the higher level decided that a warrior competition needed to be a longer event with as many tasks as we can put into it,” said Brooks.
Bindbeutel said he was able to incorporate his experiences gleaned from his military career to help push him through tough times in the competition. He deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq in 2013-2014 with the 251st engineer company and is currently a team leader with the 251st.
“Having spent lots of nights sleeping in places that were uncomfortable, having spent lots of days doing stuff that was uncomfortable and getting used to that mentally and physically prepares you,” said Bindbeutel. “That’s not something that you can teach somebody, that’s not something that you can read in a field manual it’s a growing comfort with discomfort that only time and experience can get you.”
The last day of the competition put the soldiers through a grueling 10 mile tactical ruck march and a special mystery event in which they had to call for fire.
Bindbeutel said he hopes to take his leadership values learned here back to his squad and to the civilian sector.
“Civilian jobs aren’t always held to a higher standard of behavior, the primary motivation is profit as opposed to some of the principles that soldiers live by, like taking care of your troops,” said Bindbeutel. “I can’t say I’ve had a lot of bosses that emulated loyalty or devotion like we do in the army.”
Though he finished in second place, Bindbeutel and his fellow competitors have acquired valuable leadership skills for their futures by participating in this event.
“It shouldn’t be about bragging rights or personal honor,” said Bindbeutel, “The reason we do this is for the opportunity to meet soldiers in other units, learn material that we might not have had the time or the motivation to study on our own and to ensure that we become more well-rounded soldiers.”
| Date Taken: | 04.02.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 05.15.2016 09:40 |
| Story ID: | 198136 |
| Location: | BANGOR, ME, US |
| Web Views: | 81 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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