LOGHAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan – The ‘Maintainers’ of the 703rd Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, participated in a battalion volleyball tournament, April 28, on Forward Operating Base Shank.
Up for grabs was the 703rd Mace, a trophy the battalion’s companies have competed for through a variety of competitions since it was first revealed in November 2011, to help build morale within the unit.
First Lt. Ashley Semadeni, the Maintainer battalion human resources officer and a native of Grand Junction, Colo., enjoyed the competitive atmosphere. “Mace events give the soldiers an opportunity to break away from our daily schedules, build morale, and to simply have fun,” she said.
As defending champions, Headquarters and Headquarters Company played first and chose Company B as their opponent. The defending champions were unable to defeat their opponents forcing them to relinquish the battalion mace, while Co. B, the battalion’s maintenance company, moved on to the championship match.
In the other semi-final match, Co. A, the distribution company, took on Co. C, the medical company. It was a tough match and both companies played with passion and determination. Once Co. C took the lead they never looked back, defeating the distribution company, and moving on to the championship game against Co. B.
In the final match, the Co. B team started strong and challenged the medical company the entire game but was never able to match their opponent’s intensity. Company C eventually pulled away at the end to win the tournament and take possession of the coveted mace.
“Today was fun,” said Spc. CJ Pennington, a Dayton, Ohio, native and a medical logistics specialist with Co. C. “We played hard and finally brought the mace back to Charlie Rock.”