Fort Sill Soldiers compete in Iron Destroyer Games

FORT SILL, Okla., Oct. 15, 2020 -- A five-member team representing the “All for One Battalion” — 1st Battalion, 40th Field Artillery — won 434th Field Artillery Brigade’s annual “Iron Destroyer Games” Oct. 9.

By slogging their way through five grueling events, they won the cup and the right to be called the Iron Destroyer Battalion until the next contest.

Drill Sergeant Tara Sorrell, E Battery, 1-40th FA, said the games are a way for 434th FA Brigade to build esprit de corps. It’s for cadre and drill sergeants who work inside the brigade’s Combat Basic Training battalions. Lieutenants and captains could also compete.

“We actually have a lieutenant on our team, and we have Soldiers, noncommissioned officers,” she said.

Sorrell said she competed in the first Iron Destroyer Games in April 2019.

“It means a lot, because as a drill sergeant we work hand in hand with the cadre and the other drill sergeants in our battalion, so to come out here and do something fun and to build each other up is always nice, with our high tempo of work. So it’s really nice to come out here and build friendships with people that we work with,” she said.

1-40th FA’s team was the first to complete the opening event of the games, the one-mile run, but Sorrell said they hadn’t been in training for the competition.

“I’m just into fitness, and I’m a drill sergeant, so I run quite often, by myself and with trainees and with drill sergeants,” she said.

It means a lot for them to get the cup, she added.

“1st of the 40th, we’re very close to one another. We have five batteries in our battalion, and it just feels like one big family, ‘cause I could go to any drill sergeant or cadre member in our battalion and they’ll always assist me. I really love this unit, and I love the cadre, the drill sergeants that I serve with,” Sorrell said.

Col. Daniel Blackmon, commander of 434th FA Brigade, said the “Iron Destroyer Games” are called that because 434th is the “Destroyer Brigade.”

“We use the ‘Iron Destroyer Games’ to identify which one of our battalions is going to be the ‘Iron Destroyer’ cupholder. Obviously all of our brigade has outstanding Soldiers, so we’re just trying to figure out which one this cycle is going to be the best one,” he explained.

The games happen once or twice a year to build camaraderie and get after the culture of fitness that permeates Fort Sill, Blackmon said.

“It’s a way to use competition to continue to breed excellence amongst our cadre,” he said.

“They’ve got to run. They’ve got a barbell that they’re doing clean-and-jerks and burpees on. They’re pulling the sled. They’re doing some lunges. There’s going to be a deadlift event towards the end, and then they’re going to do what’s called a Mini-Murph. They’re going to don their vests, they’re going to run a half-mile, do a certain number of pullups, a number of pushups, a number of squats, and then they’re going to run another half-mile. And then when everybody is done we’re going to have a mystery event at the end where folks can make up some time, based on how well they did in that particular event,” Blackmon said.

“Mini-Murph” is a shorter version of the CrossFit Hero Workout of the Day named for the late Navy SEAL Lt. Michael Murphy, who was killed in Kunar, Afghanistan,  June 28, 2005, and posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions that day. The full version consists of a one-mile run wearing  Interceptor Body Armor, complete with the ceramic plates, which adds about 25 pounds, plus 100 pullups, 200 pushups, 300 squats and another mile, he explained.

“We shortened that, and we’re doing it as a team. It’s at the very end to culminate the actual competition,” Blackmon said.