GRAFENWOEHR, Germany -- After three days of mentally and physically challenging events, three soldiers have earned the opportunity to represent the 7th Army Joint Multinational Training Command at the United States Army Europe's Best Warrior Competition next month.
2nd Lt. Robert Hurd, Sgt. Christian Gonzalez, both from the Joint Multinational Readiness Command, and Sgt. Kendrick Jones, from Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Division, competed in the JMTC Best Warrior Competition, Aug. 12-14, 2015, here, and took first place in their respective categories.
The BWC is a three-day competition that consists of multiple events designed to challenge Soldiers across a variety of skills, such as weapons qualifications, medical scenarios, day and night land navigation, and a 12-mile ruck march.
"The Army needs role models right now and these guys are going to be able to show people that with a little extra effort you can achieve excellence," said Command Sgt. Major Jeffrey R. Huggins, the command sergeant major of JMTC. "These Soldiers can go on and be an example for the rest of the army and also show what it looks like to be a professional."
Throughout the competition, these Soldiers received very little rest or sleep as their days began at 4 a.m. and they went from event to event with only a few minutes rest in between. When they finished one event, they would march to the next carrying their 35 pound ruck sack, their body armor and kevlar, and their M4 rifle. The distances from one event to the next were always unknown as well as what could be expected at the next event.
"I am very happy to be here and I think my chain of command did a great job helping me to prepare for the events that have been historically done in this competition," said Hurd. "My main goals were to win and also to get better at my warrior tasks and drills and I am happy to have accomplished these."
This competition also included a written exam and a sergeant major's board which can sometimes prove difficult for Soldiers.
"Coming in to this I was very confident so I didn't study much because I wanted to see where I stood based on what I already knew," said Jones. "Now I have a good idea of the things I need to improve on so that I can represent my unit to the best of my abilities."
To some land navigation and a ruck march may be easy, but adding extra factors like conducting it at night and looking for extra items can may things interesting. Also, carrying a litter for the first mile of a 12-mile ruck march can take that last bit of energy you may need toward the end of ruck march.
"This was a gut check, you really have to come prepared for a competition like this," said Gonzalez. "Land navigation was interesting because they gave us a situation like, find your point and find the equipment so this made things a little harder."
He said he definitely needs to improve on ruck marching.
"These Soldiers performed excellent. The tasks were very challenging and we designed it that way so we could test everything from their professionalism in a board setting to their reliance through very rigorous physical activity. They were given many opportunities to fail and they did not," said Huggins.
"I am very confident that our team will have a great chance to win the USAEUR Best warrior competition," he said.
Social Sharing