Courtesy Photo | Staff Sgt. Timothy Vigen, from Minneapolis, Company C, 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry...... read more read more
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By Capt. Kyle Yanowski
1-187th Inf. Regt., 3rd BCT, 101st Abn. Div. (AASLT)
CAMP STRIKER, Iraq – With a focused mind, the Soldier holds on to the grip. His feet dangle as his free hand pumps the air in triumph.
The celebration is short-lived. He swivels his head and feels the rock begin to break away under his fingertips as both he and the hand hold separate from the wall. A grin stretches across his face as he plummets to the ground below; he knows even a short-lived triumph is still a triumph. The impact is sudden, yet surprisingly soft. He rolls over and looks at the man-made climbing wall. Still smiling and three hours left before his patrol starts, he picks himself up and starts again.
When a relentless patrol cycle finally yields to personal time, the Soldiers of Company C, 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), blend imagination, a love of outdoor activities and practical application into projects to augment the Morale, Welfare and Recreational facilities on Patrol Base Gator Swamp.
Their first project was the construction of a 20-foot tall indoor rock-climbing gym.
What started out as a simple conversation between Sgt. 1st Class Dennis Gholson and his brother Spc. Jon Gholson, from North Vernon, Ind., and Staff Sgt. Timothy Vigen, from Minneapolis, quickly materialized as members of Company C began ordering the supplies necessary to recreate a stateside past time: indoor rock climbing. "My brother and I built a rock wall in Muskatatuck Park in Indiana, where we're from, and decided it would be easy enough to do the same here," Dennis said.
For five days straight, the three Soldiers went to work at night and painstakingly erected a frame 25 feet long, 25 feet wide and 20 feet high. Once the frame was complete, the trio installed plywood and drilled holes for more than 1,000 hand holds.
Four rock-climbing walls were finished with varying degrees of overhang and 20 routes were mapped out and marked.
The word quickly spread about a new rock-climbing gym on the patrol base. Soon, Iraqi army troops from 3rd Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 6th Iraqi army division, were side by side with Rakkasan Soldiers scaling the plywood crags.
"It is very difficult," said Iraqi army Pvt. Awwal Haider, a burly Iraqi army squad leader. "I can lift weights very easy, but this? It is difficult and fun!"
The rock-climbing wall has become part of the daily routine on Gator Swamp, and shows no sign of growing old for Soldiers, according to Capt. Ryan Barnett, Company C commander. "Through ingenuity and hard work, Crusher Soldiers continue to dream up ways of alternative exercise, and implement them in between patrol cycles," he said.
"Climbing is a way of life, just like being in the Army, and should we ever have to leave 'The Swamp,' we'll find a way to take the gym with us," said Staff Sgt. Nathaniel Greene, patrol base mayor. "We can take the lessons of climbing on the inside wall and apply them to the fight outside of the wire. No matter how many times you fall off of a route ... get back on and try again.
Eventually, you're going to the finish successfully."
| Date Taken: | 02.25.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 02.28.2008 15:13 |
| Story ID: | 16795 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 625 |
| Downloads: | 496 |
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