Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Ryan Rayno | Spc. Ireayo Akanbi, a dental specialist with Fort Polk Dental Activity, high crawls...... read more read more
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Soldiers from Dental and Public Health Command — Central competed in each unit’s Best Warrior Competition, which consisted of 10 challenging events on Fort Hood, Nov. 3-7.
The two commands hosted separate contests side-by-side in an effort to create as challenging of a competition as possible while maximizing available resources.
“The Dental Health Command and the Public Health Command usually run their competitions separately, but we decided to run them together this year so we could combine resources and make this a bigger event,” Master Sgt. David Smith, noncommissioned officer in charge of the two commands participating in the Best Warrior Competition 2020, said. “We wanted to create the biggest challenge possible for the competitors that would also best prepare them for the next level of competitions.”
Cpl. John Ryan, a dental specialist with Fort Riley Dental Activity, and Spc. Richard Nicholas, a dental specialist with Fort Sill Dental Activity, won the Dental Health Command — Central Best Warrior Competition 2020.
Sgt. Alejandro Preciado, an animal care specialist with Fort Carson Public Health Activity, and Spc. Ambrosia Sanders, an animal care specialist with Fort Carson Public Health Activity, won the Public Health Command — Central Best Warrior Competition 2020.
During the five-day event, competitors had to complete a 75-question written exam, room clearing training lanes, Combat Lifesaver training lanes, a World War II physical training test, the air assault obstacle course, day/night land navigation, an Army Combat Fitness Test, a Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention event, an oral board and a 12-mile ruck march.
For Smith, the two biggest things he wanted to see from the competitors were effort and motivation.
“I wanted to see all of the candidates put forth their best effort and stay motivated throughout,” Smith said. “We challenged them physically and mentally throughout the five days, and hopefully they learned something about themselves as leaders, because they definitely learned something about themselves as Soldiers.”
A high level of effort and motivation were the two things that were not lacking during the competition.
“I wanted to keep motivating everyone around me as we competed,” Sanders said.
“I think motivation in general is important because it allows us all to have fun and enjoy ourselves, because if you’re not enjoying it, why are you here?”
“We all pushed each other because we wanted to try improving ourselves,” Preciado said. “You can always use help from someone else to find ways to get better.
Now that I’ve gone through this and become a better Soldier, I plan on training my Soldiers in different ways to improve their skills as well.”
Besides wanting the competition to foster a high level of effort and motivation from its competitors, creating a highly competitive environment could also be considered a success.
“I didn’t expect to win because there were a lot of tough competitors,” Nicholas said. “I was so shocked when they announced my name, but it felt good. All of the hard work and training I did with my NCOs and individually has paid off.”
“It feels pretty good to win,” Ryan said. “It was a shock, honestly, because I didn’t think I was doing that great throughout the week compared to the other competitors. When they said my name, a real euphoric sensation washed over me.”
The four winners will now go on to compete in the Regional Health Command — Central Best Warrior Competition.
Combined, both Dental Command — Central and Public Health Command — Central span across 20 states from the Midwest to Western United States.
| Date Taken: | 11.07.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 11.15.2019 15:07 |
| Story ID: | 351844 |
| Location: | FORT HOOD, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 74 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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