1-37th FA Leadership Completes Mangoday Challenge

JOINT BASE LEWIS-McChord, Wash. -- When Lt. Col. J.P. Moore and Command Sgt. Maj. Thomas C. Reitmeier came up with the idea to conduct leadership training, build esprit de corps, and promote team building in the 1st Battalion, 37th Field Artillery, they wanted to go all out. Moore drew from his own training experiences as a young captain and decided to plan Mangoday.

Mangoday is a physically and professionally demanding training program. It is named after Genghis Khan's legendary cavalrymen who trained beyond exhaustion and fought without fear.

On April 21 the Red Lion Battalion's leadership proved up to the task.

"This course was designed to take leaders out of their comfort zone," said Reitmeier, "force them to step up and install confidence within their platoons."

As a part of the Red Lion Battalion's leader week, Mangoday consisted of eight stations that tested the mental, physical and teamwork abilities of the 1-37th FA's leadership. Leaders were organized into platoon-size elements to accomplish the tasks, and leadership positions were rotated among Soldiers regardless of rank.

Each team negotiated its way, round-robin, through the stations. Three of the stations consisted of Warrior Tasks and Battle Drills that reinforced the Soldier's knowledge and were conducted around the battalion area. Four stations were spread out along a 12-mile course on Joint Base Lewis-McChord and the final station, the regimental and brigade history challenge, was conducted back at the battalion conference room. The entire course took 13 hours to complete.

At the first station, the leader was given a dummy weapon, blindfolded, disoriented by being spun around and then stepped from the 3-meter-high diving platform at the Soldier's Field House. Upon regaining his bearings, he then had to swim to the side, dive back underwater to ditch his equipment, then swim 25 meters across the pool, all while wearing the combat uniform.

The second station, located at the Ranger obstacle course, tested the leader's command and control abilities as he led his team through 16 physically demanding obstacles, while racing to get the best time.

At the artillery skills challenge the teams had to work together emplacing and dry firing an M777A2 Howitzer during a degraded occupation. This task challenged the leader's

technical skills as he had to conduct the whole operation manually, without the help of any electronic equipment.

At the fourth station the teams assaulted a hilltop and reacted to IED lanes. This station reinforced warrior tasks and battle drills, and also tested the leader's troop leading procedures and ability to make sound decisions in a stressful environment.

Covered in dirt and sweat from the day's activities, the leadership then had to marched back to the battalion conference room for the final station, which consisted of the regimental and brigade history challenge. Exhausted, the Soldiers had to maintain their composure while answering questions on the unit's history.

"A lot of times Soldiers look at things on the calendar as requirements that are on there, and they really don't understand them, so they're not behind it, Reitmeier said. "They think it's going to be a waste of their time, not challenging..., but once they got on the ground and started going and doing this, they realized that (this) was not going to be easy. They realized how mentally challenging and physically demanding this course was going to be."

"I learned that you're not by yourself," said Sgt. James R. McPherson, Headquarters & Headquarters Battery 1-37th, "in an organization you cannot operate by yourself. It takes a team to accomplish the mission and it's important knowing that you have a team that respects each other, trusts each other, and can accomplish the mission."

The events culminated in a ceremony for the held on the morning of April 22 at Casey Theater, which inducted new NCOs into the corps and formally recognized the 120 leaders who completed the Mangoday challenge. The names of the honorees were entered into the Red Lion Leader Hall of Honor book and were awarded a custom Red Lion Mangoday belt buckle and certificate of completion.

Reitmeier stressed the importance of inducting his leaders during an official ceremony. "Once they're on the stage getting formally recognized, they understand that they are no longer followers, they are leaders. It affects their transition. That is a necessary mindset to bring them to the next level."

The 1-37th FA is a unit rich in history, and those stories come to life in the hallways and conference rooms of the battalion headquarters. Paintings, news stories, guidons and photos of the unit from as far back as 1918 adorn the walls. Display cases present remarkable unit memorabilia.

Now, the unit has a new item to place in its display case, a Mangoday belt buckle commemorating the unit coming together and pushing itself to the limit.