FORT KNOX, Ky. — Thirteen observer coach/trainers from 4th Cavalry Multifunctional Training Brigade put their skills to the test March 12-14 during this year’s unit Best OC/T of the Year competition.
At stake were four individual slots to be filled by the top two officers and noncommissioned officers. The Soldiers filling those slots would go on to form two teams that will compete at the March 25-29 First Army Division East competition.
For Capt. David Rahm of Company C, 4-410th Brigade Support Battalion, earning an individual spot on one of the teams was not his focus on day 1, when he and his teammate, Master Sgt. Nathan Duke, faced a grueling OC/T-styled Army fitness test, called an Expert Physical Fitness Assessment, which included a two-mile run divided into two one-mile events, an extended low-crawl, high crawl and three-to-five second rush lane, and a gut-burning sandbag drill.
“My focus is to make sure me and my teammate Master Sgt. Duke go in together, push each other, and do the best we can,” said Rahm. “We’ve been training for a marathon that’s going on next month, so we’re in fairly good shape for this, but we’ve been kind of building each other to do this event.”
By the end of the morning, Rahm had clocked the fastest time of all the competitors at just over 22 minutes, but he didn’t stop after crossing the finish line. Instead, he dropped his gear and kept running on the track to encourage his teammate to finish the last mile of the event.
Rahm said he will have been at Fort Knox for three years in May but has never before competed for Best OC/T honors. He is scheduled to move to his next duty station sometime this summer.
“It helps to have Master Sgt. Duke with me,” said Rahm. “I probably wouldn’t be doing it without him.”
Besides the fitness assessment, competitors also qualified on a simulated M4 carbine rifle at the Engagement Skills Trainer, spent the bulk of day 2 in the field conducted timed combat-related tests and conducted an after-action review board on the final day.
The command center on day 2 puzzled over why Sgt. 1st Class Mk Ada Quet Genereaux hadn’t shown up on time to one of his scheduled lanes. Genereaux had clocked the second fastest time at the EPFA – over 24 minutes – and was expected to smoke the lanes on day 2.
When he eventually arrived at his next lane, he admitted getting turned around and going the wrong way after completing a lane. Undaunted by the added stress, he easily disassembled, reassembled and conducted a successful functions-check on an M4 within the allotted time.
Command Sgt. Maj. Adrienne Wilson, 4th Cavalry senior noncommissioned officer, said the competition is uniquely catered to OC/Ts.
“This is a best-of-the-best competition: those things that we do as OC/Ts, which is the training, the advising and the coaching,” said Wilson. “It’s really how we deliver trained and ready formations to the Army Enterprise.”
Wilson said based on the caliber of competitors that participated in this year’s event, she is confident they will repeat last’s year’s successes, when their team won at the division-level. The winners of that competition will compete for best honors at First Army in August.
On Thursday, Wilson and 4th Cav. Commander Col. Karen Baker announced that Rahm and Genereaux will make the first team. The second team will consist of Capt. Jarred Howell and Sgt. 1st Class Jason Nesman.
“Easily we’ll send our best with both teams because we have a lot of talent to pull from,” said Wilson. “This is always about the profession as an OC/T, and how we sharpen our iron.”
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