SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, Hawaii - It's 3 a.m. Monday morning ... if you can call 3 a.m. morning. Many consider it night, because most of the world is asleep. Coffee has not started brewing and it will be hours before the bakeries begin their morning bread. Yet there are some who are up, and they've came ready to fight!
Four Soldiers and four noncommissioned officers from the 8th Theater Sustainment Command tested their mettle in the weeklong 2014 8th TSC Best Warrior Competition April 7-11, at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.
Sgt. Christopher Brown and Pfc. Kelsi New from the 8th Special Troops Battalion, Staff Sgt. Chelsea Woidill and Pfc. Weng Ong from the 45th Sustainment Brigade, Staff Sgt. George Marshall and Pfc. Luigi Fernandez from the 130th Engineer Brigade, and Sgt. Deborah Hammett and Pfc. Steven Cochran from the 8th Military Police Brigade were selected by their units to represent them in the challenge.
The purpose of the competition was to select the best Soldier and NCO from the command to compete in the United States Army Pacific Command's competition, the next level before reaching the Department of the Army competition.
"My goals for this competition were for it to make me a better and stronger person; better able to lead and take care of Soldiers," said Woidill a native of Cherry Hill, N.J.
Day 1 began with an equipment layout and moved directly into an Army physical fitness test, but this was not your standard PT test. The Soldiers performed their pushups, situps and two-mile run wearing a full Army combat uniform and carrying an M4 rifle.
The day finished with each Soldier presenting themselves in front of a board of command sergeants major, a written exam, and having to find a number of deficiencies on the Army Service Uniform. All of which demonstrated their level of Army knowledge and competency.
The following day continued the competition with eight hours of daytime and nighttime land navigation courses and lanes to test each Soldiers' warrior tasks and drills. This was the longest day of the competition with the Soldiers receiving little sleep and rest. Adrenaline alone was their fuel to help them finish out the day.
"I've done things that I didn't think I could do here," said Marshall, native of Miami. "I know that no matter what, I will never quit, and never give up."
Day 3 continued with a four-mile road march to a rifle range where each Soldier competed in three different events: the .9 mil accuracy test, the M4 rifle accuracy test, and the stress fire challenge.
The Soldiers were able to rest up their legs for the fourth and final day of the competition which concluded with a 10-mile road march straight into a combatives tournament. Each competitor walked off of the road march and right into the "ring," which was a patch of grass, marked off with white engineering tape.
Although each competitor push their individual limits to the breaking point, in the end, there could only be two winners. Marshall from the engineer brigade and Ong from the sustainment brigade were able to rise above their peers and become the 8th TSC's best warriors.
"I believe that success can only be accomplished by hard work," said Ong, a Santa Clara, Calif. Native. "I wanted to see what I was made of. I wanted to test my heart."
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