FORT HOOD, Texas- At 6:00 a.m. more than 130 officers from the 41st Fires Brigade lined the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment softball field to participate in a physical fitness competition, April 20.
The competition consisted of push-ups, sit-ups, and a two-mile run to promote competition and physical fitness among the corp.
Col. John Thomson, of Tyler, Texas, commander of the 41st Fires Bde., remembers participating and in organizing it as a major when the 4th Infantry Division's artillery unit used to do it.
"Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Hernandez started the event and Brig. Gen. Charles Allen, who our building is named after, liked it and kept the event going," said Thomson. "When I took command I thought it was a great event to build camaraderie and a friendly sense of competition."
The event was scored using the extended PT grading scale. Both personal scores and team scores were calculated and the average was used to find the winner.
Capt. Cory McKoy, an intelligence analysis officer from White Oak, N.C., won the event with a score of 381.
"I pride myself in athletics and overall competition," said McKoy. "I always want to do my best and try to get ahead of the person who is one step ahead of me."
The teams were split up by battalions with the winning team coming from the 1st Battery, 21st Field Artillery Battalion for the second time in a row; with the gold cup still on display in their office.
"I asked the officers to give me a little more effort on this test," said Lt. Col. James Davel, from Shawano, Wis., the winning battalion's commander. "I was very impressed with the work ethic and effort put out."
Training is also as important as effort to do well in physical fitness competitions. It takes work and dedication to prepare the body.
"We did PT in the morning and a lot of running," said Capt. Jose Leon, the battalion's information officer, from Puerto Rico. "We also worked on our push-ups and sit-ups."
Maj.Sandra Wilks, a support operation officer from Boston, Mass., agreed that training is important; she trains for half marathons and triathlons on her free time.
"As a group, we prepared about eight weeks out," said Wilks. "We worked out and tailored our efforts to the PT test."
Physical fitness competitions can promote friendly rivalry as well as physical fitness.
"These events brings out camaraderie and lets us meet and mingle with people we may not work with," said McCoy. "We should have events like this more often."
Master Sgt. Johnny Williams, brigade intelligence NCOIC from Prentiss, Miss., organized the event and believes physical fitness competitions motivate the participants to do well.
"Everyone was motivated because the scores across the brigade improved a lot from last time," said Williams. "These tests promote competiveness between battalions because they want to make their battalions look better."
With another competition behind them and more to look forward to, the officers of the 41st Fires Bde. continue to train for the next obstacle. Physical fitness is very important to them and nothing shows it better than friendly competition.
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