Photo By Sgt. Eric Glassey | Joint Task Force Carson Soldiers take off on 5-mile run during the Ranger Assessment...... read more read more
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FORT CARSON, Colo. - Ranger-qualified Soldiers from 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, hosted an assessment Oct. 20-24, 2014, to help fellow Soldiers prepare to succeed at Ranger School.
The assessment included the Ranger Physical Fitness Test, a 12-mile ruck march, land navigation and classroom instruction with topics such as weapons systems, nutrition, conditioning and mental resiliency.
“I think it is a really good experience, especially since a lot of us (have) never done any of this,” said Spc. Terrin Baker, health care specialist, 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 1st SBCT, 4th Infantry Division. “Just getting the experience and the opportunity to do this is something we can carry with us for the rest of our careers.”
The assessment provided the Soldiers an opportunity to see where they are physically and mentally and learn methods to improve their chances of completing Ranger School should they get the opportunity.
“You have to come here with the mindset of knowing that it will be a difficult week even if it is just an assessment,” said 1st Lt. Jennifer Meier, battalion supply officer in charge, 43rd Special Troops Battalion, 43rd Sustainment Brigade. “We’ve had performance enhancement classes, nutrition classes, and yesterday we were breaking down the M249 and M240B machine guns. All the classes and training will be incredibly useful whether it is in Ranger School or in our Army career afterwards.”
One aspect of Ranger School is the mental challenge the Soldiers will have to face. Petra Kowalski, master resiliency trainer and performance expert, Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness Training Center, was on hand to coach the Soldiers on how to improve their performance.
“Everyone knows that a lot of this is at least 50 percent mental, if not more, and that is what I specialize in doing,” Kowalski said. “The best analogy I can use is ... a professional athlete would go and work with a sports psychology consultant to work on their game — our full-time job is to do that for the Soldiers of the U.S. Army.
“We have a whole suite of skills to teach the Soldiers, everything from imagery, having an effective mindset and the self-talk — you know that everybody has 300 to 1,000 words per minute that run through (their) brains,” Kowalski said. “So when you are talking to yourself, we try to leverage what you are saying so that it is effective for you.”
The assessment was supported and encouraged at all levels of command on Fort Carson.
“I would like to say that I appreciate the support that the chain of command has provided in this opportunity,” Meier said. “My battalion commander, brigade commander and (Commanding General Maj. Gen. Paul J. LaCamera, 4th Infantry Division and Joint Task Force Carson) have all been very supportive in the effort to provide resources for the (Soldiers) to be successful at this training event.”
| Date Taken: | 10.24.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 11.05.2014 14:46 |
| Story ID: | 147064 |
| Location: | FORT CARSON, COLORADO, US |
| Web Views: | 1,752 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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