Courtesy Photo | Sgt. Joshua Brenner (center), Pfc. Elisabeth Rogers and Spc. Daniel Bido compete...... read more read more
FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. - About halfway through a 12.4-mile foot march on Fort Leonard Wood, Sgt. Joshua Brenner huddled his three-Soldier team together to give them a pep talk.
“We’re going to be the doers, we’re going to be the ones who did it,” said team leader Brenner, a San Diego native, to his crew.
The team representing the 463rd Military Police Company was indeed made up of doers.
Brenner, along with Spc. Daniel Bido and Pfc. Elisabeth Rogers, went on to earn first place in the foot march event on Sept. 19, and with it captured top honors in the first 92nd Military Police Battalion Warfighter Team Competition.
“It was a team effort the whole way through,” said Queens, New York, native Bido.
The march was the culminating event of the four-day competition, which pitted six teams, each consisting of one noncommissioned officer and two Soldiers against each other. The teams represented their respective companies in the 92nd MP Bn., which is part of the 4th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, 1st Infantry Division.
Sgt. 1st Class Charles Shuck, noncommissioned officer in charge of the competition, noted how events like this help Soldiers as they advance in their careers.
“This separates them from their peers, and you have to stand out,” Shuck said.
During the competition, troops were tested both physically and mentally, as events allowed the troops to flex their Soldiering muscles with a written exam, 3-mile run with weapon and a 2-mile kettle ball run, day and night land navigation, a physical fitness test, combatives, obstacle course, an oral board and many others.
“They never knew what was coming next throughout the week,” said Shuck, who explained that the participants slept at the battalion’s headquarters, were without cell phones and subsisted on MREs, or Meals, Ready to Eat, during the week.
The lead flip-flopped throughout the week, and the competition was too close to call going into the final day. However, the team from the 463rd MP Co.’s ability to recognize and utilize each other’s attributes early proved to be the difference as Brenner’s strength, Bido’s endurance and Rogers’ speed combined to distance themselves from the field.
Rogers, a Pensacola, Florida, native who arrived at the unit just a month ago, said earning the title of warfighter gave her a big confidence boost.
“I really sold myself short,” Rogers said. “I didn’t realize how much I had to offer.”
The 463rd MP Co.’s rallying cry is “Never Quit,” and it’s something that wasn’t lost on the Soldiers who represented the company at the competition.
“We took our motto to heart,” said Brenner, who is slated to report to Hawaii in the near future for his next assignment.
Brenner said the title of warfighter champion is something that he cherishes.
“It’s what I wanted to be known as when I left.”
As the winning team arrived near the end of the final event, brigade and battalion leadership greeted the Soldiers, along with troops and family members.
The 463rd MP Co.’s first sergeant expressed pride in his company’s team.
“They really trained hard in preparation for this, working around our already busy schedule,” said 1st Sgt. William Justice. “I think that kind of motivation and teamwork is what makes this competition and these Soldiers so special.”
Each winning team member was rewarded with an Army Commendation Medal, coins, a plaque from the Military Police Regimental Association and other rewards.
At least for Rogers, something else was the biggest reward of all.
When she arrived home after the competition, Rogers lifted the phone and dialed her mom and dad.
When she was connected, three words she couldn’t have imagined uttering when the competition began were said to her parents, “I won it.”
“That was one of the proudest moments of my life,” Rogers said.
| Date Taken: | 10.01.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 10.02.2014 13:27 |
| Story ID: | 144060 |
| Location: | FORT LEONARD WOOD, MISSOURI, US |
| Hometown: | PENSACOLA, FLORIDA, US |
| Hometown: | QUEENS, NEW YORK, US |
| Hometown: | SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 83 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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