FORT DRUM, N.Y. -- The 10th Mountain Division (LI) conducted the William O. Darby Leadership Award Competition on Aug. 20-23 on Fort Drum.
The event allows platoon leader and platoon sergeant teams from each brigade to put their skills to the test in a multi-phase competition designed to measure their physical ability and test their professional knowledge.
Events included Mountain Athlete Warrior physical fitness drills; marksmanship qualification on the M-4 rifle and M-9 pistol; nine-mile ruck march; prepare and brief an operation order; and a formal board. Scores from each event are averaged together for an overall score.
Capt. Gregory Holmes, assistant S3 in charge of future operations for 2nd Brigade Combat Team, was tasked to plan and run the competition.
"Some of the events are individual-based events; they are required for basic combat skills like marksmanship and ruck marching," Holmes said. "But some of them require Army knowledge and the ability to communicate with Soldiers, like conducting a formal board on Army-based level-10 tasks as well as conducting a tactical OPORD they have to present as they are giving it to a platoon."
The competition focused on testing skills that leadership teams need to be proficient at to be successful in combat. First Lt. Ryan Allgood, assigned to A Company, 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, has been working with Sgt. 1st Class Jason Henry since February. Allgood said he has enjoyed going though the competition with his teammate.
"It's a nice reminder of all the different pieces it takes to be a platoon leader and platoon sergeant put together in two days," Allgood explained. "You have the physical part, shooting, OPORD, board, essay; all of it gets put together, and you realize it takes the whole package to lead a platoon, not just one aspect of it.
"This kind of competition is good for the two of us to work really close together on one goal rather than what we usually have to do," he continued. "He has all the stuff he has to do for the first sergeant; I've got all the stuff I have to do for the commander, and so being able to spend a couple days working just with him is actually really nice."
Staff Sgt. Shane Hill, platoon sergeant for 3rd Platoon, C Troop, 3rd Squadron, 71st Cavalry Regiment, 3rd BCT, has 11 years in the Army with 26 months on deployments. He works with platoon leader 2nd Lt. Joshua Kellbach. Hill, who uses competition within his platoon, said he enjoyed all of the events.
"I enjoy competing, I like the competitive spirit. It's something in my platoon we do a lot. We try to get the squad leaders and Soldiers competing against each other," he said. "I think it builds teamwork and camaraderie across a unit, especially (competitions) at the division and brigade level. It's a lot of fun to participate."
By the time they got to the last event, which was the ruck march, Holmes said the teams were neck and neck with the scores.
"It's one of those things where multiple teams are shooting expert and multiple teams are getting near-perfect scores," he said. "It's coming down to the details."
In the end, 1st Lt. Stephen Bruner and Sgt. 1st Class John Brear from B Company, 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 2nd BCT, won the competition.
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