Photo By Cashmere He | GUNPOWDER MILITARY RESERVATION, Md., -- A Soldier assigned to the 743rd Military...... read more read more
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GUNPOWDER MILITARY RESERVATION, Md., -- After two days of mental and physical challenges under Maryland’s scorching September sun, a squad from the 741st Military Intelligence Battalion, earned top honors during 704th Military Intelligence Brigade’s annual Tough Squad competition Sept. 6-7.
The Tough Squad competition serves as a dual-purpose event that gathers units from across the brigade to put their best squads together to both build comraderie and also to evaluate the training that Soldiers have been conducting all year.
This year’s competition focused on realistic training, while squads encountered more hostile fire, more smoke and more explosions while navigating the terrain of each event.
Staff Sgt. Joshua Birnbaum, assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 704th MI Bde., said this particular event was very “special” because leaders were very “ambitious” in providing training that the Soldiers have never seen before.
On the first day, Soldiers completed four lanes that would test each squad’s ability to adapt, pay attention to detail, and work together as a cohesive team to conduct a range of medical tasks, chemical, biological, radiological, high-yield explosive, and nuclear (CBRNE) operations, react to indirect fire, react to direct fire to eliminate the “enemy”, and protection and surveillance tasks. The second day, Soldiers showcased their skills in close combat and used more than just physical strength to complete the thought-provoking leader development courses.
In the end, there could only be one first, and that’s 741st.
Nine Soldiers from the ‘Silent Warrior’ battalion were awarded the Army Achievement Medal and presented a brigade coin for excellence by the commander of the 704th MI Bde., Col. Heidi A. Urben.
“It feels really good to bring the win back to its rightful place and bring the trophy back home where it belongs,” said Staff Sgt. Daniel J. Collazo, a squad leader assigned to Headquarters and Operations Company, 741st MI Bn.
Collazo said, at the end of it all, the win all came down to “teamwork.”
“The hardest part for us was the CBRN lane. It was really a punch in the face because a lot of us work in the building and having to put on MOPP (Mission Oriented Protective Posture) level 2 and gas masks while trying to conduct battle drills, was challenging, he said. “As soon as we started working together and picked up the slack where people were weak, it paid off.”
He emphasized that, his soldiers did an “amazing job” and said, “I’m very humble to be their squad leader at this event.”
| Date Taken: | 09.06.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 11.21.2018 08:54 |
| Story ID: | 293899 |
| Location: | MARYLAND, US |
| Web Views: | 36 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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