FORT DRUM, N.Y. -- Run, ruck and rappel. Read, write and study. Brawn and wits -- they have needed both. After enduring a summer of sore muscles and high heart rates, four Soldiers of 91st Military Police Battalion, 10th Sustainment Brigade, 10th Mountain Division (LI), are representing Fort Drum this week at the 2012 Warfighter Team Competition in Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.
The grueling four-day event is one of the Army's toughest challenges. The competitors are evaluated on MP tasks, battle drills and physical fitness.
Teams -- which consist of a driver, gunner, team leader and an alternate -- enter Warfighter completely blind, not knowing what challenges they face or how they will be scored. Thirty-two teams entered this year's competition. The winning team will carry the distinction of the Army MP Corps' highest standard for excellence.
The coach who trained the four MPs from Fort Drum said he is confident they will do well.
"I have high expectations for the team," said Master Sgt. Paul Evans, Warfighter Team coach for 91st MP Battalion. "They know I expect them to do their best and give 100 percent throughout the competition."
The four Soldiers are Sgt. Jesse Franz, 543rd MP Company, Warfighter team leader; Spc. Alonte Echols, 23rd MP Company, gunner; Spc. Julio Hernandez, 23rd MP Company, driver; and Spc. Todd Thomas, 511th MP Company, alternate.
Training
Franz, Echols, Hernandez and Thomas first learned of their select status in June, after outshining their peers in a grueling daylong event on post.
"It was probably the most PT I ever did in one day," Hernandez recalled.
Since then, Evans said deciding what training to put his four Soldiers through has been a guessing game.
"I can tell you that we know they will be running and rucking a lot," he said.
During the first two weeks, Evans had the team performing nonstop weapons training, taking apart and breaking down everything from the 9 mm pistol and .50-caliber machine gun to the MK-19 grenade launcher and the AT-4 antitank weapons system.
"I made them memorize all the ranges of firing, the weights, everything," he said.
During their third week, the team fired those weapons every day.
Since then, days and weeks are lost in a blizzard of PT, ruck marches, land navigation, urban warfare operations and a myriad of other training events.
Evans said he has gone over every MP task at skill-level one and skill-level two as well as the tasks in the MP Army Training and Evaluation Program (ARTEP).
Much of the summer's activities began and ended in the classroom. After instructional time, Evans let Soldiers study and develop tactics, techniques and procedures on their own. He then took them outdoors to execute what they had learned. The process usually ended with a written test.
Earlier this month, after three days of running and rucking nearly 30 miles, Evans arranged for his Soldiers to undergo a tactical stress shoot at the Military Operations in Urban Terrain training area of Fort Drum.
"They shoot under extreme stress. (We) get them real tired, sweaty -- sweat in their eyes," Evans said ahead of the training, which was timed and scored. "Then they will learn to transition from weapon to weapon, change magazines quickly, and gain better time and accuracy.
"It's to give them an edge," he added.
Just before the stress shoot, Sgt. 1st Class Ashley Hess, weapons instructor for Fort Drum's Light Fighter School, told the four Soldiers he wanted his targets full of head shots and chest shots.
He also offered the MPs tongue-in-cheek insults.
"Under stress, 50 percent of your accuracy goes away," he said. "That means you suck twice as bad."
Other training the MPs conducted over the summer included combat techniques, night vision devices, area security, communications, handling prisoners of war, maintaining proper paperwork, and law enforcement procedures, including everything from frisking suspects, applying handcuffs and searching a vehicle to responding to bomb threats and hostage situations.
"Later in the afternoons, after training, they may spend two hours in the gym," Evans said. "Depends how I feel. After a 14-mile road march, they can go run (another) six miles."
Evans said battalion headquarters was conducting an Army Physical Fitness Test on one of the days that his team ran close to 10 miles.
"'Hey, two-mile run for time guys -- let's go,'" Evans told his four Soldiers, all of whom not only ran the two miles but also finished ahead of everyone else.
"These guys -- they're beasts," he said. "They're really squared away."
MP mettle
Franz, the only NCO on the team, made it to last year's Warfighter as a specialist.
"I like to compete," he said. "It was a lot of fun for me. Breaking down all those skill-level one tasks that we need to learn as Soldiers, not just for this competition -- I know I became a better Soldier."
Like others on the team, Franz said digging deep and overcoming physical limitations while training for the competition was not that hard.
"Honestly, it's not," he said. "You just have to push yourself. I like to push and see how far I can go.
"I don't know why," Franz added. "That's just who I am."
Hernandez, who noted that months of intense training will help him grow as a Soldier, an MP and a leader, said unit pride has helped keep him focused ahead of the competition.
"Being able to represent Fort Drum and the 10th Mountain Division (LI) has been a big motivator," he said.
His teammates feel the same way.
"It means a lot for the 23rd MP Company, the 91st MP Battalion and the 10th Mountain Division (LI)," Echols said. "When I go back to my unit, I can bring all of this training with me."
"I think it's a step up to try to be the best Soldier in the MP Corps and to (work hard) for the 10th Mountain Division (LI) and the 91st MP Battalion," Thomas added.
Although being committed to the difficult training regimen was never a problem, Thomas said the high operational tempo has been a challenge at times.
"Especially in long distances, there's that resistance to your will -- your will to win, and your will to compete," Thomas said. "But this training has helped me (advance) in fitness, intelligence, tactical skills and shooting. It will help me come out a better-rounded Soldier."
"They're the best we have," Evans concluded. "I feel that they are over-prepared for the challenges that they will be completing during this competition. They are the walking definitions of physically and mentally tough.
"I look to see them in the winner's circle."
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