Nine Soldiers from the 1st Armored brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division competed in the European Best Squad Competition 15 at Grafenwoehr, Germany.
Less than a week later, two of those competitors jumped back into the fray for Combined Resolve V, a multinational training event scheduled from Sep. 22, to Nov. 21, 2015 in Hohenfels, Germany.
"The Squad competition was definitely one of the hardest things I've ever had to do in my Army career," said Sgt. Joshua Goldenberg, squad leader with Alpha Company, 1st ABCT, 3rd ID.
For two days and three nights, Goldenberg and his teammates endured intense physical and mental challenges that pushed them beyond their limits.
In preparation for the competition, Goldenberg and participating soldiers from his unit began putting in extra work in their training.
"We started training everyday, about three a day," said Goldenberg. "Run in the morning, ruck in the afternoon and lifted weights at night. So pretty much everyday up until the competition we were training hard, one hundred percent to get the most out of it."
By preparing themselves for the European Best Squad Competition and pushing themselves throughout the event, Goldenberg and his teammates feel that their experiences from the competition helped prepare them for Combined Resolve V.
"It definitely carries over," said Pfc. Steven Carberry, a radiotelephone operator with Alpha Company, 1st ABCT, 3rdID. "When things get tough, you just have to stay positive and find a way to power through it."
The competition provides a means to strengthen each soldier's fortitude, but it also provided an open channel for U.S. Soldiers to communicate and foster international relationships with their NATO allies.
"It was awesome, just to see how they do things," said Carberry. "We got to exchange weapons a lot, got to hold their weapons systems…we made good friends with Norwegians."
Carberry said, by having the experience in working with NATO allies, he feels much more confident in himself and his international brother-in-arms as they move forward into Combined Resolve V.
"After seeing what they did and what they went through," said Carberry. "I have absolute respect for them."
In contrast to the European Best Squad Competition, Combined Resolve V will provide U.S. and multinational Soldiers the opportunity to work together instead of competing against one another in order to accomplish their missions.
"It's just going to be more of a tactical side and not so much physical," said Goldenberg. "But it's definitely gonna bring us together."
Still, similar to the European Best Squad Competition, the physical challenges are ever present during Combined Resolve V.
"The biggest challenge here is staying motivated and taking it one day at a time," said Carberry. "Some days it's just mission after mission after mission. It wears you down, but you've gotta take it one day at a time, you've got to stay motivated and work as a team."
Combined Resolve V will challenge more than 4,600 participants from 10 NATO allies and three partner nations from: Albania, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Slovenia, the United States, Georgia, Montenegro and Serbia. The exercise will test soldering skills from the lowest level and up, across many different military occupational specialties and across many European nations.
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