Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Benjamin John | Staff Sgt. Phillip Elliott, a human intelligence collector with the 377th Military...... read more read more
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FORT MCCOY, Wis. - Soldiers from all backgrounds and walks of life have come to Fort McCoy, Wis., to compete against each other in the 2012 U.S. Army Reserve Command Best Warrior Competition.
Some have come to become the soldier or non-commissioned officer of the year and others have come to see if they can complete all the events of this competition.
Staff Sgt. Phillip Elliott has come to do his best and try to finish the competition. He has the drive to be here and the strength to compete, but he said he is not here to win.
“I'm only competing against myself,” Elliott said. “as long as I complete every event, that's all I care about.”
Elliott attributes his ability to adapt and overcome challenges to the army values.
“I have had a couple challenges since I have been here,” Elliott said. “The land navigation event is what gave me the most trouble. It took me an hour and a half to find the first point and that mentally psyched me out. After I found that point I had to get in the zone and find the other two.”
Elliott, a native of Orlando, Fla., has been deployed to many countries and has experienced different cultures, he will be deployed again in the next coming months. When faced with a difficult task, relying on his training and field experience has helped him finish strong and move on to the next challenge.
“My past experiences overseas have given me confidence to compete,” Elliott said. “I've been in quite a few fire fights and have seen a lot of things overseas. Especially with my job, because we operate in small man teams, you have to be able to adapt to a lot of things.”
The necessity to adapt and move forward helps Elliott in his everyday life, more recently though. He has had to deal with the loss of a few people close to him.
“One of my soldiers, who was with me in Afghanistan, committed suicide,” Elliott said while pointing to a green band on his wrist, a reminder of his fallen friend. The green band is for an anti-suicide charity that has the words 'give life' engraved on it.
“I've also had two of my best friends commit suicide within the last month.”
One of his friends was taken so recently that Elliott is missing the funeral to be in the competition. Elliott said he is here to fight for the people that he has lost.
| Date Taken: | 07.20.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 07.20.2012 15:18 |
| Story ID: | 91906 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Hometown: | ORLANDO, FLORIDA, US |
| Web Views: | 123 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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