Teams of Sky Soldiers fill Schweinfurt training area

By Mr. Mark Heeter (IMCOM)April 9, 2009

Teams of Sky Soldiers fill Schweinfurt training area
1 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – A team of Soldiers from Anvil Troop, 1st Squadron, 91st Cavalry Regiment (Airborne) march to the next event of the Sky Soldier competition in the Camp Robertson training area near Schweinfurt April 8. For more photos from the event, go to http://www.... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Teams of Sky Soldiers fill Schweinfurt training area
2 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – The four-Soldier team from Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team Support Battalion, tend to a mock casulaty during the Sky Soldier competition. For more photos from the event, go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/sch... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

SCHWEINFURT, Germany -- Following the sound of the pain-filled moaning coming from 100 yards behind the wood line, the four-man team burst through a patch of brush and arrived at their casualty. A Soldier on her back, blood-soaked pants, plead for their help.

The four Soldiers, from Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 173rd Airborne Brigade Special Troops Battalion (Airborne), flung themselves into action and put their training to the test.

"I know this is a competition, but it's a way for us to give them a class so they can hone those skills now, so when they get downrange, they don't lose Sky Soldiers," said Sgt. Damori Morton, the combat-tested medic from Company C, Brigade Support Battalion (Airborne), who evaluated the team.

"It's one way to give them an opportunity to see what it's going to be like to heal a battle buddy," Morton said.

Thirty-one four-man teams, from every company-sized unit in the 173rd ABCT, from Vicenza, Italy, through Bamberg to Schweinfurt, Germany, participated in the Sky Soldier competition at Camp Robertson training area near here yesterday.

The winning team was Company A, 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment (Airborne), comprised of the Sgt. Matthew Young, Sgt. Joshua Eaton, Spc. Daniel Cruz, and Staff Sgt. Gary Newton. They bested their fellow Sky Soldiers in a number of tasks spread throughout the training area - and separated by long, timed road marches.

"The whole point of the exercise is, the guys come up, they're tired, they're exhausted and they need to be able to shoot under stress," said Staff Sgt. Bryan Morrow, who evaluated arguably the most difficult of the events: the stress shoot.

After carrying a 185-lb. litter about 200 yards up a steep hill and lugging water-filled jugs, the teams had to fire from unorthodox positions.

"You never can really duplicate a combat situation. You can only get as close as you can. And that's what we try to do. We try to duplicate the stress under fire," said Morrow, a sniper with the Company C, 1st Squadron, 91st Infantry Regiment (Airborne), who has deployed to Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.

"You've got to say, 'Hey, calm down. Remember your training. And that's the biggest hurdle for guys is for them to remember their training in combat," Morrow said.

The final event - a mystery to the participants until they returned to the billeting area of Camp Robertson - was a test to evaluate Soldiers' ability to quickly and correctly rig their personal equipment, before a question about brigade history.

"The Sky Soldier competition is designed to evaluate and reinforce the most important tasks we need to focus on to get ready to deploy to combat," said Col. James Johnson III, 173rd ABCT commander.

"It tests Soldiers' ability to communicate on the battlefield, to treat casualties on the battlefield, engage the enemy on the battlefield, and it's a test of his physical and mental endurance - all the while building a tight team," Johnson said.

"Each team represents every company, every troop, every battery, within the organization of excellence, working as a team," said brigade Command Sgt. Maj. Nicholas Rolling. "At the same time, we work as a group, celebrating the brotherhood of who we are."

Creating a cohesive team through such events could be considered a critical task for the brigade, whose units are separated by hundreds of miles.

"It brings the unit closer together. Normally, our units are so spread out between Italy and Bamberg and Schweinfurt, so a lot of times, you don't see these guys until you go to the field," Morrow said.

More photographs form the Sky Soldier competition are avalaible at http://www.flickr.com/photos/schweinfurtpao

Related Links:

USAG Schweinfurt