BY SGT. RYAN TATUM
181st Multifunctional Training Brigade Public Affairs
Four Soldiers within the 181st Multi-Functional Training Brigade (MFTB) and two Soldiers from the Fort McCoy Noncommissioned Officer Academy participated in a Best Warrior Competition from Oct 5-8 at Fort McCoy to prove who the top Soldier in the brigade was.
The Soldiers were challenged with a number of demanding tasks that tested their mental, physical, and emotional toughness, organizaers said.
Master Sgt. Jason Bullock, brigade operations for 181st MFTB, described day one and day two best warrior events.
Day one started with the Army Combat Fitness Test followed by an M9 and M4 qualifications, a 12-mile ruck march, a hand-grenade range event, a stress shoot and a night-fire event, said Bullock.
“Day two was day and night land navigation (events) and Army Warrior Task evaluation which included range cards; identifying hand grenades; weapons assembly; employing a single-channel ground and airborne radio and simple-key loader; a call-for-fire event; and a chemical, biological, radiation, and nuclear (CBRN) lane,” Bullock said.
Staff Sgt. Ephraim Saffir was named the Best Warrior winner. He’s a New York native from the 3rd Battalion, 340th Brigade Engineer Battalion. He talked about the experiences he had during the Best Warrior competition and which lane and day of competition he thought stood out the most.
“My initial thought was I am here, and I am doing this. I was determined to give it my best. I am here to compete with myself not everyone else,” said Saffir. “The call-for-fire lane on day two was my favorite. I had an app on my phone that helped me prepare for that challenge, and the CBRN lane was easy because of the muscle memory I developed as a private.”
Day three of the competition started with assessing and treating a casualty and requesting a nine-line medical evacuation, the obstacle/confidence course, a 200-meter swim, and concluded with a 100-question exam covering basic Soldier knowledge. On day four, Soldiers appeared before the Command Sergeants Major Board where they were tested on their Army knowledge.
Sgt. 1st Class Jacob Kavanagh, who earned the Best Warrior runner-up award, is an Arizona native with the 1st Battalion, 310th Brigade Engineer Battalion, discussed which day affected him the most and why he wanted to compete.
“The event I didn’t like was the nighttime land navigation. I felt nothing but frustration as I spent an hour trying to find a point that really wasn’t all that hard to find,” said Kavanagh.
“The thing that motivated me to keep pushing was that I felt that I could have actually won the competition. I can’t just quit and do things halfhearted, that is not the example that we set for our junior noncommissioned officers and Soldiers.”
Saffir didn’t mind the pain during the competition because each of the competitors made the experience bearable.
“The other competitors were competing but we were all there supporting each other, morale was overall high,” said Saffir. “I would do it again in a heartbeat. As physically demanding as it was ... you really cannot replicate it.”
Saffir and Kavanagh will continue to train as they prepare to move on the First Army Division West level of the U.S. Army Best Warrior competition at a later date.
The 181st MFTB is a tenant organization at Fort McCoy.
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