It's all about teamwork," said PVT Neal Eaton after completing the obstacle course May 20 on Sand Hill.
"It was exhausting - different muscle groups every other obstacle, and by the end of the thing you were huffing and puffing to finish," said Eaton, 2nd Platoon, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 47th Infantry Regiment. "(But) if one doesn't finish, none of us finish, so you just have to keep pushing, keep pushing everybody forward and finish strong."
The company of 240 Soldiers went through the course first at a regular pace, then each platoon selected 10 Soldiers to compete in a timed navigation of the course, which included more than a dozen obstacles. 3rd Platoon, "the Spartans," came in first, finishing the quarter-mile course in six minutes and 19 seconds.
"I'm just overjoyed right now," said PV2 Fesseler Okechukwu, guidon bearer for the platoon, who will carry the winner's streamer for the rest of the cycle.
Okechukwu said the cheers of his teammates motivated him while he ran.
"You can do whatever it takes as long as you have your team behind you backing you up," he said.
"I had a big cramp in my stomach and my right thigh was throbbing, but I didn't care. I just wanted to make sure my whole team was there at the finish."
The competition emphasized teamwork while the Soldiers were still in their first week of training, and that's by design, said CPT Eric Han, E Company commander.
"It gives the privates a chance to pull together as a group," Han said. "That's everything we do in the Army. There are always going to be times when you want to stop, you want to quit, but in the Army, we do everything as a team.
"Having teamwork and peer encouragement really motivates them. I guarantee you if you sent these guys individually through these obstacles, a good amount wouldn't be able to finish, but because they do it as a team, they can finish together, finish faster and do a lot better."
Han said he was impressed at how quickly the Soldiers finished the course.
"I think the drill sergeants really picked up their PT from the start of the cycle," he said. "You can see that because usually at the end of the obstacles, when they're doing the crab walk, they're very tired, they want to give up, but I've seen guys just push through the end. It was amazing, and I credit that to the drill sergeants who've trained them hard from the start."
E Company will graduate July 17.
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