Fort Knox, Kentucky -- Fourth Cavalry Multi-Functional Training Brigade hosted First Army, Division East's quarterly Best Warrior Competition, from April 10-12, at Fort Knox. 4-306th Brigade Engineer Battalion, 188th Infantry Brigade Observer Coach/Trainer Staff Sgt. Frederick Avery won the event, and will compete at a First Army wide Best Warrior competition in May, against other quarterly Best Warrior competition winners from First Army Division East and Division West.
Fourth Cav MFTB had one contestant in the event, 4-410th Brigade Support Battalion OC/T Sgt. 1st Class Mark York, who took third place. York believes he benefited from the competition. "It definitely forced me to get back to the basics. Land navigation is a perishable skill, for instance. You really don't do it enough, unless you're at a school or something."
Day and night land navigation concluded the first day, preceded by several other events, including an obstacle course, a confidence course, and rifle marksmanship. Day two began with a 12-mile road march, where the candidates carried 55-pound rucksacks.
"The ruck march was the most challenging thing," Avery said, "because it was challenging both mentally and physically. You just had to keep on going."
All of the candidates in this quarter's event are OC/Ts at their respective units. Avery believes the competition will improve them as they train partner units. "It helps us get back into the groove of actually operating the weapons systems and that will help us more effectively mentor our partner units on those weapons."
Following the ruck march, the candidates moved into a stress fire lane. "This was a little bit different," said Avery. "We had to load our magazines, run back and forth, and deal with smoke and noise." The smoke came from smoke grenades tossed in the line of fire to make target acquisition more challenging.
The lane was run by soldiers from 3-409th Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Cav MFTB, including Sgt. 1st Class Arnez Lamb, an OC/T with that unit. "To me the event builds a lot of character. You don't know what you can do until you do it. They really challenged themselves to get through each event," Lamb said.
3-409th Soldiers also ran the M240B machine gun range and a modified Army Physical Fitness Test. "It was very challenging. Instead of a two-mile run, they did a 50-meter litter drag, tire flip, carried two 65-pound weights, and a 50 meter sprint at the end," Lamb said.
The APFT was followed by a combatives competition and the final event was a board. Staff Sgt. Sean O'Hara, an OC/T with First Battalion, 306th Infantry, 188th Infantry Brigade, won the board, and finished second overall.
As the First Army Best Warrior competition in May will also be hosted by 4th Cav MFTB, Lamb said the 3-409th BSB is prepared to assist with that event as well. "We're always ready--ready to rock and roll."
Avery is looking ahead to May as well. "I'm ready to move on to the next one that's coming up and I'm ready to win it."
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