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Every Soldier knows that his or her physical fitness plays a vital role in their readiness to perform their missions. One Nebraska National Guard Brigade put that concept to the maximum test during their recent annual training exercise in Missouri.
Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, was home to the first Pike Challenge for the Soldiers of the 67th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade on, June 19. The Pike Challenge – so named because of the brigade’s distinctive “Pike” patch – consisted of 10 six-person teams representing the 67th MEB, 126th Chemical Battalion and 192nd Law and Order Detachment.
Sgt. 1st Class Lucas Smith and Staff Sgt. Jordan Hopwood, both from the 67th MEB, were tasked with creating a physical competition for the brigade Soldiers that consisted of six events, each of which had historical ties to the organization.
According to the organization’s commander, the Pike Challenge was an opportunity for the members of brigade to learn more about the organization’s history while also competing for bragging rights.
“It was overwhelming the enthusiasm and motivation that everyone had to win,” said Col. Craig Strong, 67th MEB commander. He added that the challenge was good for esprit décor and what he calls “Pike Pride.”
The first event was 134 partner over burpees. This exercise recalled the role that 134th Infantry Regiment played during the battle of St. Lo, France, in July 1944. This was then followed by 67 pull-ups for the 67th Brigade, which draws its lineage back to the 134th Infantry Regiment, and the work that the organization’s World War II Soldiers did in pulling themselves over hedgerows to gain control of Hill 122 outside of St. Lo.
Next, Soldiers completed 124 hanging knee tucks for each of the towns liberated or captured by the organization between July 1944 and September 1945.
This was then followed by 159 pushups to represent each of the 134th Infantry Regiment’s Silver Star recipients and how they pushed through the difficulty of battle.
Then Soldiers took it to the track to complete a 400-meter buddy carry, which represented the Warrior Ethos and the Soldiers Creed of never leaving a fallen comrade.
Finally the Soldiers conducted a ruck march along an engineer trail to represent the work that engineers do to impede the movement of the organization’s enemies while helping the brigade maintain its freedom of movement during a battle.
As a part of the challenge, the six competing Soldiers could split the exercises any way they wanted to as long as all of the repetitions were successfully completed. Only one team member could be doing the exercise at a time and the events had to be completed in the written order.
Each team was assigned a grader who counted each event to ensure fairness across the board. The goal was to complete it in the shortest amount of time possible.
When the dust finally cleared, a team from the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 67th MEB, were declared the winners of the first Pike Challenge. The team consisted of Staff Sgt. Jordan Hopwood, Sgt. Andrew Broers, Sgt. Cole Ratcovek, Staff Sgt. Heath Wragge, 2nd Lt. Jonathan Policky and Capt. Nathaniel Krcilek
“Just being able to get everyone out there and building something special at HHC means a lot to me, said Smith. “I want an environment where Soldiers look forward to coming to drill and to any training we have. I love wearing the uniform and I hope others look forward to their time in our own gun club.”
Plans are now in the works for the next Pike Challenge, which will be held during the brigade’s 2018 annual training in Fort Riley, Kansas.
| Date Taken: | 11.20.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 12.13.2017 08:53 |
| Story ID: | 258609 |
| Location: | LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, US |
| Web Views: | 40 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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