By Sgt. Grant Okubo
4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division
FORWARD OPERATING BASE LOYALTY, Iraq – Even in a combat environment, the spirit of physical competition exists among Patriot Brigade Infantry Soldiers, who also must maintain fitness as they conduct missions outside the wire.
In keeping with that spirit, Soldiers assigned to Company C, 2nd Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, competed in the Chaos Ironman Challenge at Forward Operating Base Loyalty, Aug. 20, 2008. The competition consisted of five events and a tie breaker, if needed.
Capt. Adam Cecil, from Chesapeake, Ohio, the Co. C commander, said he supported the decision to conduct a companywide ironman competition in hopes of boosting morale, helping Soldiers keep their minds off missing home too much and conducting good physical training.
To perhaps make things a little more interesting, he also invited the unit's partnered national policemen to participate in the good-natured competition, and they joined right in.
The contest began with a 300-meter shuffle sprint followed by a push-up event. From that point, sequential events included a 4-K run, in which teams carried two boxes of meals ready to eat, a 75-meter Humvee push and a sandbag military press.
Competition was fierce, and there was a three-way tie after the five main events. However, competition officials wisely planned a tiebreaker event in advance – one in which involved a different set of skills as a representative from each team had to assemble a weapon while blindfolded.
After all of the running, carrying, pushing, pressing and assembling, a team from 1st Platoon took top honors. The winning team consisted of Staff Sgt. Chad Workman, squad leader of 3rd Squad from Visalia, Calif.; Spc. Christopher Halski, a weapons squad team leader from Omaha, Neb.; Spc. Harry Sampang, a 1st Squad rifleman from Montgomery, Ala.; and Pfc. John Askey, a platoon radio telephone operation from Phillipsburg, Pa.
Sgt. Chris Burnley, one of the ironman participants, said he enjoyed the chance to unwind and compete with his fellow Soldiers and his Iraqi counterparts.
"It was great having the NPs participating beside us," said Burnley, a Hornbeck, La., native.
Cecil said he was pleased with the camaraderie of all the Soldiers and the national policemen who took part in the events and was glad to see everyone cheering each other on. Camaraderie aside, Cecil stressed the importance of physical fitness to his Soldiers and a desire to help bring attention to areas needing improvement
| Date Taken: |
08.20.2008 |
| Date Posted: |
09.04.2008 09:52 |
| Story ID: |
23192 |
| Location: |
BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: |
259 |
| Downloads: |
92 |
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This work, Infantry Soldiers compete in Ironman competition on FOB Loyalty, by SPC Grant Okubo, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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