Unit honors legacy of hero with competition

By: First Lt. Drake Mann

FORT HOOD, TX--Soldiers from B. Co., 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division conducted a physical training competition on March 22 honoring the legacy of retired Col. Rick Rescorla.

Rescorla, was a former Platoon Leader in Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment during the Vietnam War and fought in the famous battle of LZ X-ray. Later he would become the Director of Security for Morgan Stanley in the South Tower of the World Trade Center. On September 11, Rescorla saved thousands of lives by ordering the evacuation of Morgan Stanley employees shortly after the tower was hit. He went back in to make sure all of his people got out and was last seen heading up past the tenth floor when the tower collapsed.

"Blackhawk Company set out to provide a challenge to Soldiers that would not only honor an American hero, but push their physical and mental limits and test their intestinal fortitude as a team," said Capt. Dan Lee, the company commander.

The Rescorla Challenge featured 10 events covering a total of two miles. There were 20 teams of four Soldiers required to complete 10 warrior skill tasks all while wearing combat gear. The tasks included a Humvee pull followed by 6 pullups for each Soldier. From there the team had to locate a point on a map and then disassemble, assemble and complete functions check of an M249 Squad Automatic Weapon and M240B Machine Gun.

The teams then navigated an obstacle belt with an ammo can, sand bag and TOW missile tube, treated and evacuated a casualty utilizing the neck drag for 50 meters, reacted to contact. They then conducted log lifts followed by a grenade throw all while wearing a chemical protective mask.

"That was a tough, grueling, but significant event," said team leader, Spc. Collin Shelton, "It made us push ourselves to the limit and made us better not only as a team, but as a company."

According to Lee commanding the company that carries the legacy of someone who has impacted so many lives is an honor and remembering Rescorla is a responsibility. "It is our duty, not only as Soldiers, but as Americans to keep his memory alive for future generations and this event is just a small way of memorializing a legend and a true hero who paid the ultimate price for his country," he said.

The company hopes that this becomes at least a yearly event and is carried on in honor of Rescorla and all of those who have called Blackhawk Co. home for years to come.

The winners of the Rescorla Challenge were Cpl. Justin Darcy, Pvt. First Class Nicholas Kearney, Pvt. First Class Jamaal Mellish and Pvt. First Class Ricardo Yanez, of 1st Platoon, Bravo Company with a time of 53 minutes and 28 seconds.