Photo By Staff Sgt. Elizabeth Tarr | Capt. Mike Ecklund, assistant operations officer for Headquarters and Headquarters...... read more read more
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Two sapper teams assigned to 1st Engineer Battalion, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, and one sapper team assigned to 41st Clearance Company, 4th Engineer Battalion, 36th Engineer Brigade, III Corps, ruck marched more than 19 miles in under 12 hours while competing in a variety of events during a miniature “best sapper” competition April 4 on Fort Riley.
Each team consisted of two members, a mixture of both sapper-qualified officers and enlisted personnel who demonstrated their competence in combat engineering.
The competition of both technical and tactical events included knot tying; constructing poncho rafts; land navigation; nonstandard physical fitness test; assembling an M4, M9, M249, M240 and M2 weapons within 15 minutes; 4-mile ruck march; constructing a jungle antenna; threat weapons recognition; transporting a simulated casualty using a stretcher; repel techniques; pathfinder operations; and a written exam.
“We want to physically and mentally challenge them and allow them to experience doing these tasks under stress,” said Capt. Mike Ecklund, assistant operations officer for 1st ABCT. “This also allows us, as coaches, to know where we need to tighten up, and where we need to retrain before competition day.”
Ecklund competed in 2017, winning third place out of 48 teams, and decided to coach the participants this year. Although he enjoyed competing, coaching has been a true test of his skills.
“I have to know these skills much more thoroughly to be able to coach,” he said. “It’s one thing to know these skills but to be able to coach and mentor has been a challenge.”
According to Ecklund, the competitors are unaware of which tasks they will have to complete during the competition but the training is focused on the most challenging tasks — from the sapper handbook — that requires multiple repetitions to master.
Sgt. Gary Coggins, a competitor with Co. B, 1st Eng. Bn., said he wanted to compete because he wants to stand out among his peers and represent his unit and regiment.
“Being a sapper encompasses everything it means to be an engineer,” he said. “Winning this competition is the echelon of all prizes for engineers. We’re coming to win it.”
The competition is scheduled to be held April 14-20 in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.
| Date Taken: | 04.08.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 04.08.2018 11:17 |
| Story ID: | 272177 |
| Location: | FORT RILEY , KS, US |
| Web Views: | 500 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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