Polish, Hungarian troops named MNBG-E's top multinational soldiers

CAMP BONDSTEEL, Kosovo - Twenty service members from multinational units serving on NATO's Kosovo Force peace support mission faced off in a series of mental and physical challenges for the first Multinational Battle Group-East Multinational Soldier Competition, held Oct. 23-24 at Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo.

The competitors represented MNBG-E forces from Armenia, Germany, Hungary, Poland and Turkey, and also included local guest competitors from the Kosovo Security Force.

The two-day event included cooperative training, followed by tests and challenges. One of these tests included service members' knowledge of and qualification on the M16 rifle and M9 pistol. The competition also included a physical fitness test, six-mile ruck march, and evaluation of each soldiers' ability to call in official medevac and unexploded ordnance support requests over a radio.

The participants took part in the event on what could be considered two of the least favorable days this far into Kosovo's autumn, with temperatures starting around 40 degrees in the mornings.

Day one of the competition started with classroom instruction to familiarize the competitors with the American weapon systems and radio procedures. After the classroom instruction, the competitors were evaluated on what they learned.

"Having the chance to instruct service members from other countries was an amazing experience. I consider it a privilege to have been selected to be an instructor for the competition and to have had the opportunity to teach," said Staff Sgt. Dustin Butcher, one of the weapons instructors, who is serving in Kosovo as a member of the North Carolina National Guard's 30th Armored Brigade Combat Team headquarters.

Butcher, who is also part of the North Carolina National Guard Counter Drug Program when not deployed, said the competitors were very focused throughout the event.

"The instruction and evaluation parts of the competition were challenging," said Polish Pvt. Grzegorz Kordek, who was named the competition's junior enlisted winner.

The second day brought the event's more physical challenges, including the physical fitness test, followed by the ruck march that brought the team up Camp Bondsteel's steepest hills, and finishing up with the weapons range. During the weapons range, competitors were visited and observed by Italian Command Sgt. Maj. Amedeo Russo, the senior enlisted leader for MNBG-E's higher headquarters and the overall Kosovo Force mission.

Competing with Soldiers from other countries does add to the challenge, said Connecticut National Guard Spc. Tyler Schwarz, a resident of Southfield, Connecticut, and member of MNBG-E's Southern Command Post.

"I came in here hoping to learn how each of the countries represented here handle weapons training, and medevac and unexploded ordnance requests," Schwartz said.

Kordek and his fellow Polish competition, Pvt. Lukasz Charzanowski, agreed that the event was a good opportunity to meet service members from other countries, and that their favorited event was the ruck march.

To conclude the event, the competitors and instructors joined the MNBG-E commander, U.S. Army Col. Vernon Simpson, for an awards ceremony where he personally thanked each of the service members for their hard work and participation.

Hungarian Sgt. Ferenc Radoczi, who was named the event's top multinational noncommissioned officer, said that the high requirements of being a long-range reconnaissance soldier helped prepare him for the challenge.

"I am very proud to have had the chance to compete with the service members from other nations," Radoczi said.

Command Sgt. Maj. Ralph Johnson, MNBG-E's senior NCO and enlisted leader, said he'd like to add multinational equipment and weapons systems into future iterations of the competition.

"This was a competition put together to build camaraderie and show Soldiers how each nation perform certain tasks," he said.