The final mystery event, the Combat Pistol Qualification Course, of the Best Warrior Competition was conducted May 26 at Camp Bullis, Texas.
Sgt. Jeremy Brake, Daegu, Korea, scored the highest among the noncommissioned officers with a score of 28. Spc. Katelyn Parente, Fort Riley, Kansas, scored the highest among the specialist and below Soldiers with a score of 24.
They all did pretty well today considering more than half of the competitors have never fired a 9 mm before, said Camp Casey, Korea, Garrison Command Sgt. Maj. Wayne LaClair.
“We gave them a little class and put them on the line,” said LaClair. “Then we went through five tables for a total of 40 rounds fired.”
The Soldiers in the competition were not aware what the final event of the competition would include. The purpose of the mystery event is to keep Soldiers focusing only on the specified tasks, said LaClair.
“They don’t know what we will throw at them,” said LaClair. “It makes them train on more things to make them better Soldiers, which makes them better at their jobs.”
“I had no idea what to expect coming in to this event,” said Brake. “We don’t get a lot of opportunity to shoot 9 mm (pistols) … I just listened to the instructions, took my time and concentrated.”
Parente said she suspected some kind of shooting event such as a stress fire. She added that the 9 mm pistol is her primary weapon as a military police officer.
“I just focused on practicing my fundamentals: keeping a steady grip, watching where I was aiming … and reloading quickly,” said Parente.
The Best Warrior Competition is a five-day event where Soldiers from installations around the world gather to compete for the Soldier of the Year and Noncommissioned Officer of the Year titles for IMCOM. The competition included a road march, physical fitness test, essay, exam, weapons qualification, warrior task testing, combatives tournament, day and night urban orienteering, reflexive fire and the final mystery event, the Combat Pistol Qualification Course.
The winners, Sgt. Jeremy Brake of U.S. Army Garrison Daegu, Korea, and Spc. Jonathan Melendez of USAG Schinnen, Netherlands, will represent IMCOM against 22 of the Army’s top NCOs and Soldiers from 12 commands at the Army Best Warrior competition in October.
Social Sharing