Five teams comprised of a combination of 32nd Composite Truck Company and Supply and Distribution Company Soldiers and NCOs competed in a series of physically and technically demanding challenges June 8-9, 2016, on Fort Carson.
Members of the 32nd Composite Truck Company, 68th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 4th Sustainment Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, and the Supply and Distribution Company, Group Support Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne), joined forces to learn from each other during the two-day event.
The event was the result of a collaborative effort that began while the “Trey Deuce” commander, Capt. Joshua Krevy, and the Supply and Distribution Company commander were attending the career course. The intent of the competition was to build camaraderie between the Soldiers of the two companies, said 1st Lt. Aaron Beyea, 32nd Composite Truck Company officer in charge for the event.
“The idea behind it was to integrate the teams so the 10th Group guys could learn from us about the Heavy Equipment Transport Systems and we could learn from them about the equipment they use. We built a lot of relationships over the … two days. We struggled together, but definitely learned together,” he said.
It was important for company leadership of both units to integrate their Soldiers into the teams during the competition to maximize the exposure to each other’s different skills and to build on their relationship.
“(On each team) we had an NCO and a Soldier from the 32nd and then two Soldiers from 10th Group,” said Beyea.
The first day began with an obstacle course at the 10th SFG(A) compound that comprised of 14 obstacles.
Staggering the teams every two minutes, the event was scored by taking the time it took the entire team to complete the obstacle course and then adding time for penalties due to failed obstacles or safety violations.
The team with the fastest time was awarded the most amount of points, with successive teams receiving one less point for every place after completion of the obstacle.
The teams conducted a combat lifesaver relay event up a steep incline to “The Tree of Woe,” overlooking the Special Forces compound, in full combat kits carrying an empty combat litter and were then required to assess a casualty, render medical aid and send a nine-line MedEvac request before returning down the hill to the start point while bearing their gear on the litter.
Scoring for the event was based on the time it took each team to finish, and adding 30 seconds for every error in the casualty assessment and nine-line call.
“The run up the Tree of Woe was the most difficult part for me,” said Spc. Bernard Pratt, truck driver, 10th SFG(A). “That was a very steep run, and with the litter to come back down, (it was) terrible.”
Following a much welcomed break for lunch, the teams conducted the final event on the first day, a pugil stick competition inside the 10th SFG(A) combatives dojo and training area. The hard hitting pugil duels were run in a bracket style tournament with each team having one of their members face a member from an opposing team and receiving one point for each round won by knocking his opponent down to the ground three times or moving him out of the ring.
“There were no issues working with the 10th Group guys, we clicked really well together and everyone got along,” said Sgt. Christopher Hughes, 32nd Composite Truck Company training room NCO.
Following the physically taxing events of the first day, the second day of the competition was aimed at testing each transporter’s skills acumen at his transportation and truck centric military specialties.
“(The teams) did really well,” said Beyea. “The first day, because it was mostly physical, they built some good bonds and then the second day, when it got to more technical things, they were able to work pretty well together as a team.”
On the second day eight events were spread across different training areas on Fort Carson as the teams were required to expertly complete various tasks ranging from driving tests, truck tire changes, vehicle recovery operations, preventative maintenance checks, winching and tie downs, and container loading.
Upon completion of each test the teams earned points based on various grading criteria and were provided the grid coordinates of the next challenge.
“This is my first duty station, and I didn’t imagine the Army being like this at all,” said Pratt. “It was great to come over to (the other) side of post and see what things were like over here because on ‘the compound’ it’s just us.
We are separated from everybody else so it was a great time to come out and hang with the 32nd CTC guys.”
Beyea said he believes the event will continue in the future based on the numerous benefits it held for all of the participants.
| Date Taken: | 06.18.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 07.18.2016 18:15 |
| Story ID: | 204292 |
| Location: | FORT CARSON, CO, US |
| Web Views: | 40 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Transporters compete in skills test, by SGT Benjamin Kullman, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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