FORT DRUM, N.Y. (Sept. 29, 2016) -- "Raise your hand if you just finished a 54-hour competition," said Command Sgt. Maj. Charles Albertson, 10th Mountain Division (LI) senior enlisted adviser.
In a room packed with more than 60 people, eight medics up front raised their hands. Each was presented with a 10th Mountain Division coin for excellence.
Four teams composed of two Soldiers each underwent extreme mental and physical stress for more than two days to vie for the honor of representing the division at the upcoming Command Sgt. Maj. Jack L. Clark Jr. Army Best Medic Competition, Oct. 24-28, at Joint Base San Antonio, Texas.
Sgt. Jarrod Sheets and Sgt. Matthew Evans, both of 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment "Catamounts," 2nd Brigade Combat Team, took top honors and will head to Texas next month for the competition.
"It's a surreal experience to have been selected to represent the best division in the Army," Evans said.
These combat medics led from the front by volunteering for such an ordeal.
"Thank you for having the courage and the skill to enter the arena," said Lt. Col. Michael Szczepanski, 10th Mountain Division (LI) surgeon and keynote speaker for the award ceremony, who presented each of the competitors with the Division Surgeon's Coin for Excellence.
For Sheets and Evans, this is a repeat performance, as they represented Fort Drum at last year's competition in Texas.
"It was a brutal 72 hours down there," Evans said. "But, as soon as the winners were announced and it wasn't us, we agreed to do it again next year."
Sheets and Evans set a training plan and stuck to it, even during their recent deployment to Afghanistan. They credited their physical training that focused on increasing stamina and studying the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command's trauma and medical scenarios as key to this year's win.
"They told me they were going to come back and win the competition," Albertson said. "And, here they are."
The competitors proved their medical and tactical expertise in written exams as well as realistic scenarios including a litter obstacle course, combat water survival, physical fitness, land navigation, defeating improvised explosive devices, and multiple medical emergency and trauma assessments, completing more than 40 miles of ruck marching between events.
This year's Army Best Medic Competition will see 68 Soldiers vying for the title of Best Medic Team.
Sheets and Evans said their approach for this year's competition is to remain more mentally flexible and to continue to motivate each other.
Sgt. Christopher Robirds, 210th Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, and Spc. Cody Kidwell, 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, came in second place. They will be on standby in the event that replacements are needed.
Robirds explained that while he waits for the call to action, he will take time to teach his Soldiers the lessons he has learned through this experience.
"I'm going to take the knowledge I've learned and used at the Best Medic Competition to go out and continue to train my Soldiers to be proficient at those tasks, thus continuing my proficiency as well," he said.
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