FORT HOOD, Texas – Soldiers with 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division completed a week of Greywolf Strong training, a program designed to fall in line with the Army’s push toward sustaining the health of the force, with a physical training competition, July 27, 2012, at the baseball fields on Battalion Avenue.
Capt. Joshua Sorge, the physical therapist for the brigade, designed the competition to test their skills in physical readiness and teamwork.
“We wanted to teach them different ways of doing [Physical Readiness Training],” he said. “In this environment, we are able to build the group mentality and identify future leaders as well as give them the option of helping their battle buddies across the finish line.”
Before the start, the groups laughed and joked among themselves that the competition would be ‘a piece of cake’ but after the first two repetitions of Buddy Pushups, the tone changed and they began wondering if they’d be able to make it at all.
From station to station they ran, executing exercises they’d been honing all week and hollering motivation to each other throughout the course. The groups discussed the best techniques to complete each exercise quickly and when a trooper finished a task, he ran back to collect his buddies.
The competition consisted of seven stations that included individual, paired and team exercises. In between the stations, the groups conducted exercises from the PRT manual that had to be performed as a unit and in cadence.
“These classes have helped us stand out as leaders,” Spc. Sergio Avalle said. “This teaches us how to work together towards a common goal.”
Participants said repeating proper form and exercise techniques throughout the week really paid off in the end and helped push them across the finish line.
The course took more than 15 minutes to complete and by the end, uniforms were dark with sweat and soldiers stumbled exhaustedly toward their gear to rest.
First Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment’s team of eight, the smallest that competed, won with a time of 15:05.
The competition concluded a week of resiliency and physical readiness training that the brigade conducted to educate leaders throughout the units here. With twice-daily work out sessions, morning and afternoon lectures and homework to be completed within a deadline, the classes were more like a college curriculum than your average Army training block.
Sorge said the more soldiers understand how these fundamental techniques fall in line with the Army’s push towards sustaining the health of the force, the better.
“We wanted to put it out to the leadership and subsequently into the units to be utilized daily,” Sorge said. “I hope the message that we conveyed was that there are fun, interesting and exciting ways of conducting PRT.”