CAMP CASEY, REPUBLIC OF KOREA -- Senior leaders representing 41st Signal Battalion convoyed to the Ingman Range at Camp Casey to conduct a Stress Shoot Competition that is designed to hone their warrior skills and test their ability to accurately engage targets on a firing range under extreme stress and exhaustion in Dongducheon, South Korea May 20.
The purpose of the competition was to ensure that participants, including Lt. Col. Warren R. Wood, commander, 41st Signal Battalion, 1st Signal Brigade, are physically and mentally prepared to fight tonight even in the most undesirable conditions.
Capt. Frederick H. Do, commander, Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 41st Signal Battalion, who briefed the participants on how the competition is organized, shared his views on the importance of this event.
"The significance of this training is that we are trying to test the leaders' ability to fight tonight under a stressful condition through a simulated battle environment, which we tried to reproduce through the lanes," said Do. "So, the significance is that we want to produce a stressful environment so that the leaders can be proficient at their warrior tasks and drills before they go up to the firing line and engage the target."
Six, five-man teams were organized to first carry out a three mile ruck march in full battle gear, followed by nine different sets of challenges in battle simulation.
After the ruck march, each team's members were challenged to attempt knocking out a machine-gun nest while under fire by throwing grenades and simultaneously calling for fire.
Each team was then required to carry a tow bar 100 meters to a site of a disabled convoy to assist in the recovering of the vehicle whilst treating and evacuating casualties.
After carrying a casualty to the landing zone for evacuation, each team changed into their Mission Oriented Protective Posture (MOPP) level 3 gear in preparation for chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear attacks. Next, all participants were required to properly remove, put on and clear their masks in 9 seconds to avoid temporary paralysis from simulated nerve agents.
Finally, the teams performed a high crawl in MOPP 4 gear and dug into their fighting positions to repel the enemy waves with their M16/M4 rifles, M240B machine guns and M9 pistols.
After the full day of intense training, Capt. Liberty Fe Lobdell, commander, 275th Signal Company, 41st Signal Battalion, spoke on behalf of all the participants and voiced her thoughts on what this training meant for the 41st Signal Battalion and how the participants benefitted from the training.
"I thought we had a great time. It was a great team building event, and it got us to stop our busy lives to come together and do something physically active that's relevant to our overall mission of staying fight tonight ready," said Lobdell.
"I think it's twofold," added Lobdell, "one, you never know what's going to happen and what situation you might find yourself in and two, I think it brings you to a level where you are more familiar with some of the training your Soldiers go through on a more regular basis."
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