FORT POLK, La. " Athletes have the Olympics, movie stars have the Oscars and Fort Polk’s 519th Military Police Battalion, 1st Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, has the Viper Stakes. Each year, the four companies and two detachments of the battalion go head-to-head for the right to claim the coveted Commander’s Cup.
The two-day challenge takes the best of the best from each company and puts their minds and bodies to the test, having them complete a series of formidable challenges. Whoever gets the most points or wins the most challenges is ultimately the winner of Viper Stakes and the Commander’s Cup.
Lt. Col. David Detz, 519th MP Bn commander, said this year’s Viper Stakes was a magnificent event that culminated at Alligator Lake, where Soldiers had fun and brought their Families to the battalion’s organizational day Viper Stakes award ceremony.
“The individual events vary from year to year, but we typically conduct the competition in conjunction with the Military Police Corps anniversary in September and the cup is awarded as part of the Military Police ball,” Detz said. “This year, we moved it forward so the warriors of 209th Military Police Company could compete before their deployment to Afghanistan.”
The competition began in the early morning hours of July 6 with the Viper challenge on the 519th MP Bn Viper’s Field. Companies were split into teams of four and tasked with accomplishing a series of five challenges " the tire toss, sit ups, pull-ups, box jumps and a road march. During each challenge, teams had to complete challenges with each member contributing to the task.
The first event was the tire toss, where teams flipped a large tire from one end of Viper Field to the other. Once they reach their designated point, the team had to move on to sit ups, with each team completing five minutes of non-stop sit ups.
Once the five minutes were up, the next challenge was pull-ups. At the pull-up bars, teams had to complete overhand pull ups for 3 minutes without stopping. That was followed by the box jump, where members had to jump on a large tire nonstop for five minutes. The last task of the challenge had team members completing a half-mile road march wearing interceptor body armor while holding an M 240 Bravo machine gun.
After the Viper Challenge, the next event had teams tackling the air assault obstacle course. Teams of four, in the standard army combat uniform, were tasked to complete nine obstacles in the shortest amount of time. Like the Viper Challenge, teams had to complete each task together they couldn’t move on until the last man finished.
To end the day’s event, teams returned to Viper Field to participate in the tug-of-war tournament. During the double elimination competition, teams of 10 put their muscle to the test, heaving with all of their might to out pull the opposing team.
During the next day’s task, teams participated in a softball and basketball tournament at Alligator Lake during the battalion’s Organizational Day.
There, the Soldiers and Family members of 519th witnessed the final battle for the Commander’s Cup.
“In the end the Warriors from the 209th MP Company proved too much as they won six of nine events and finished no lower than third place in any event,” Detz said.
Sgt. Stephen Hueg, 209th MP Co, said it felt good to win the competition and contributed the win to teamwork.
“In the end, it was my teammates who motivated me,” he said. “It’s what made me try harder.”
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