Sappers demonstrate skills in yearly competition

By Luke WaackApril 23, 2009

Sappers demonstrate skills in yearly competition
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Sappers demonstrate skills in yearly competition
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FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo., The Best Sapper Competition is the engineer regiment's showcase to display the talents of the top engineers in the Army. This is the fifth annual contest and 36 sapper buddy teams registered this year - a new high.

Sappers are engineers, but a one-word title doesn't do them justice.

"A sapper is a jack-of-all-trades. We are expected to be able to know and do everything from infantry tasks to clearing a road and building fortifications. As an engineer you don't know what's coming next," said Capt. Michael Natalino, Sapper Leader Course, chief-of-training.

This reality is reflected in Best Sapper, Natalino said.

"We intentionally leave the mileage and other details out, so that it is a - for lack of a better term - a Jedi mind trick - that you don't know what you're getting into," Natalino said.

It wouldn't be an engineer competition if it didn't have technical challenges every step of the way, Natalino said.

"From demolition calculations to how to build your poncho raft so it doesn't sink - putting all the different engineering tasks learned throughout a military career into action is part of the strategy," Natalino said.

Strategy is key, but sappers must be physically tough to reach the top, Natalino said.

"They will put more miles on their boots in three days than most people put on in a year," Natalino said.

It is not designed to make people quit, but it's challenging enough to make the option look appealing, Natalino said.

"It's about heart. Those guys who can keep their wits about them to carry out the mission and the heart and to finish it - through (seeming) insurmountable odds - embody a sapper," Natalino said.

Complications can come at any point along the course, according to a team of last year's returning competitors.

"The night land navigation was no joke. Rain was coming down in buckets and you could only see a few feet. At one point, my buddy said, 'what's that' and I turned to look and there was a copperhead (poisonous snake) poised to strike," said Capt. Joshua Eggar, 72nd Engineer Company, 1st Engineer Battalion, Fort Riley, Kan.

But working through challenges is part of what sappers do best, Eggar said.

"After that, we were more careful about where we walked," Eggar said.

Last year's winners did not return, so other teams have a shot at the title.