SAN ANTONIO -- Earning a German Armed Forces Badge for Military Proficiency is hard. Competing in a Best Warrior Competition can be even harder.
Soldiers from the 7th Psychological Operations Group did both, as they held a combined BWC and GAFB March 25-29 in the humid weather of Camp Bullis, Texas. The winners of the BWC will go on to the U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command (Airborne) Best Warrior Competition in May at Fort Bragg, N.C.
Competing for the GAFBMP is not an everyday occurrence in the Army Reserve, but the two competitions coincided, and some of the events in the GAFBMP counted for points or were given a "go or no go" toward the BWC.
The events included a 7.5-mile ruck march, M-9 pistol qualification, day and night land navigation, and track and field events making it a very rigorous four-day competition.
"Combining the GAFB with the Best Warrior Competition is very exhausting," said Spc. Justin Taylor, a PSYOP specialist in the 341st PSYOP Company, from San Antonio.
Whether or not Soldiers competed proficiently in each portion, they left with the experience and knowledge received during both events.
"I'm excited to just be able to learn what I can about everything here so I can take it all back to my unit and teach them," said Spc. Sally Roberts, a PSYOP specialist with the 324th PSYOP Co., from Aurora, Colo.
The skills, whether it be the 200-meter swim for the GAFBMP or how to evaluate a casualty during the BWC, will be valuable at any time during a Soldier's life. Knowing these skills beforehand is preferred. However, some competitors simply learned as they went.
"I wasn't sure what to expect, so I was willing to take what was thrown at me and it has turned out that it has been really tough with a lot of tough competitors," said Roberts. "It has been a lot of fun to get back in there and have the heart and mind set and just roll with it."
Mixed in the planned schedule for the week have been mystery events for the BWC -- where with little or no warning or preparation, Soldiers are presented a task and are expected to complete it to standard.
One of these mystery events included assembing an M-9 pistol, an M-4 carbine, and an M-240B machine gun while blindfolded. After one minute they were allowed to take their blindfolds off. After assembling the weapons (in under six minutes), Soldiers had to correctly perform a functions check on each weapon.
Sometimes the Soldiers got lucky and had a mystery event at which they happened to be very good. It could be anything from weapons assembly to combat life saving skills. Sgt. Derek Hahn, a PSYOP specialist with the 341st, was one of the lucky Soldiers who just happened to have recent experience assembling weapons on a time restriction.
Spc. Justin Taylor, with the 341st, used to be an armorer. Together, he and Hahn would practice assembling and disassembling weapons, said Hahn. This eventually led them to having races to see who was faster, and with this practice they were oddly prepared for the mystery event.
Many of these Soldiers know each other closely and are friends. Feeling the challenge of having to compete with each other only pushed the competitive level higher for each event. This aspect gives the word "competition" a whole new angle, they said.
"Looking to your battle buddies for motivation has helped in the competition," said Cpl. Matthew Fish, a PSYOP specialist from the 318th PSYOP Co., from St. Louis. "Helping them get motivated just makes it more of a competition for myself against the other Soldiers."
During both competitions, camaraderie and teamwork came together as one as shouting voices of motivation helped push the competitors to finish strong.
"The sportsmanship has been excellent," said Taylor. "We all want to be the best warrior, but we are going to help each other get there. We are going to motivate each other and help the Soldier who might be ten yards behind us during the ruck march."
Hahn (top noncommissioned officer) and Spc. Levi Coulter (top lower enlisted Soldier) from the 324th PSYOP Company, from Aurora, Colo., will compete at the USACAPOC(A) competition in May. The winners at that level will represent USACAPOC(A) at the U.S. Army Reserve Command BWC later in the summer.
Social Sharing