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BASTROP, Texas – “The best warrior [has] an all-encompassing skill set,” explains Spc. Michael Saunders, a competitor in the annual Texas Military Department Best Warrior Competition. “The best warrior gives everything to make sure everyone around them has what they need to be successful.”
Saunders represents the 1st Battalion, 141st Infantry Regiment, as one of 26 service members competing in this year's events at Camp Swift, near Bastrop, Texas.
Every service member that competed used their combat readiness and the most relevant training to overcome the obstacles and become the best warrior they could be.
One of the first events of the competition was the land navigation course. Early in the morning, the contestants plotted five specific map coordinates and then walked through the woods to find location markers.
The event was even more challenging as it began in near-total darkness. Using only the light from red-tinted flashlights, the competitors plotted their points while lying on the ground. They had all the tools necessary to accomplish this task in the three-hour time limit; however, Saunders describes his distress after realizing his compass had stopped functioning.
“I can fix this!” Saunders thought. “I was shaking the hell out of it, smacking it against trees, and trying to bend it.”
Once Saunders had realized that he couldn’t fix his compass and that it was “out of play,” he “shifted focus” and came up with a creative solution to his problem.
“Attack points is kinda my go-to,” Saunders explained with confidence. “You find super easy terrain features that you can navigate.”
He mentioned that this was not the first time he had navigated without a compass.
By understanding his map and the terrain around him, Saunders located his exact position, and then he used his pace count to measure distance and find the coordinate landmarks.
Using his extensive Texas Army National Guard training in navigation, Saunders found his way around the course, located five points, and completed the challenge in under two hours. Saunders added that his relevant land navigation experience would be necessary for emergency crises.
Texas National Guardsmen often respond to natural and man-made disasters and utilize similar fundamental military skills challenged in this competition.
“Individual land navigation is a perishable skill,” Sgt. 1st Class Chad Maynor, an organizer for the land navigation course. ”You have to train it and keep it sharp.”
Physical resilience is another fundamental skill that can only increase with proper training. The Best Warrior Competition’s foot march event challenged the warrior’s resilience when they carried a heavy rucksack to the finish line six miles away. According to Staff Sgt. Jacob Ryder, a fellow competitor, Saunders was one of several warriors seen jogging for most of the way.
Shortly after the ruck march, Saunders said he hopes to be able to attend the Sapper Leadership Course in Fort Leonardwood, Missouri, to become a combat engineer.
Ryder, a graduate of the Sapper course, spoke highly of Saunder’s abilities as a warrior and believed he would be an excellent candidate for the course. Ryder praised Saunders’ proficiency at the “brutal” land navigation course and his quickness with the ruck march.
“If he can prove that he has it here,” Ryder concluded. ”He can definitely go and do it there.”
Command Sgt. Maj. Michelle Thompson, the senior enlisted advisor for the Texas Army National Guard, believes the purpose of the competition is to display the readiness and relevance of the warriors trained by the Texas Military Department.
“The events that the Soldiers and Airmen are going through are the basics,” said Thompson. “Land navigation is what we've started with today, which is absolutely key in austere environments where our Soldiers and Airmen might need to operate in.”
Saunders and his fellow warriors have spent their careers training to be combat-ready, and the Texas Military Department has supplied all of its Guardsmen with the most relevant resources and training to adapt to new situations.
The U.S. Army winners of the Texas Military Department Best Warrior Competition are split up between noncommissioned officers and junior enlisted competitors. Staff Sgt. Eric Rodriguez of the Recruiting and Retention Command, took first place among the noncommissioned officers, and Spc. Nickalus Johnson of the 176th Engineer Brigade, took first place among the junior enlisted competitors. Later this month, they will represent the Texas Army National Guard in the Region V Best Warrior Competition in Camp Gruber, Oklahoma.
| Date Taken: | 05.06.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 05.18.2022 14:43 |
| Story ID: | 420160 |
| Location: | BASTROP, TX, US |
| Hometown: | SAN ANTONIO, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 15 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Trained to Serve: Texan Guardsman Competes to be the Best Warrior, by SPC Steven Day, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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