Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Zane Craig | Competitors in the 2017 state-level Best Warrior Competition were recognized for their...... read more read more
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FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, Pa. – Sixteen enlisted Pennsylvania National Guard Soldiers competed in the 2017 state-level Best Warrior Competition here March 21-24.
The Soldiers competed in ten events designed to test their physical and mental endurance and assess the "Whole Soldier Concept."
“We designed this to evaluate the whole Soldier concept,” said Capt. Toby Angove, range operations officer at Fort Indiantown Gap Training Site. “It’s not a physical fitness contest, it’s not a shooting contest, it’s not a land navigation contest.”
The ten events included: a written exam, the Army Physical Fitness Test, M4 carbine zero and qualification, 9 mm pistol qualification, obstacle course, a six mile road march, a night/day land navigation challenge, a mystery event, a warrior tasks evaluation, and finally, a leadership/appearance board.
Angove said one of the hallmarks of the profession of arms is the ability to handle stress. Simple things can become difficult under stress. Therefore, the competition was designed to put Soldiers in situations of physical exertion, darkness, and other stressors. The challenges featured a mix of physical and mental tasks, basic soldiering tasks not unique to any military occupational specialty.
“I’m actually deathly afraid of heights, to the point where it almost immobilizes me, but any chance I get to maneuver the Jacob’s ladder or the tough one, I get a little bit faster,” said Spc. Giancarlo Morante, a cavalry scout with the 1st Battalion, 104th Cavalry Regiment, 55th Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 28th Infantry Division and a Philadelphia native, in reference to the obstacle course event.
“I know I can will myself to climb up that rope and get over there. This time I only took a second when I climbed the rope and I’m looking through the logs, to think, ‘My body can fit through here and I can easily fall through, but I just lean into it and each time I get faster and I confront my fear of heights and it hasn’t stopped me,” he added.
Morante won the Best Soldier category of the contest and will go on to compete at the regional competition here May 11-14. Sgt. 1st Class Adam Fave, state operations noncommissioned officer with Recruiting and Retention Battalion and a Stroudstown, Pa. resident, won the Best NCO category and will represent Pennsylvania at regionals. Sgt. Michael McGlaughlin, military police with the 28th Military Police Company, Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 28th Infantry Division, and a Windber, Pa. resident, won the Sgt. Maj. Fields competition, but will not compete at regionals because the Sgt. Maj. Fields Competition does not exist at that level.
“Any given person can win on any given day, it just depends how bad you want it,” said Fave. He explained that ahead of regionals, he will continue to train with the assistance of Staff Sgt. Fuggitti, a national Best Warrior winner, and his girlfriend, who will help him to prepare for the board. “Time will tell, but I know we’ll be putting in the work we need to be successful.”
Like Fave, Morante said he will be training hard through the coming weeks in preparation for the regional competition.
“I feel confident in my abilities, I definitely did the best I could here, and it actually helped me prepare for regionals because now I know what my weaknesses are, I know the terrain, I have a better idea what will be asked at the boards and the knowledge sections, so now I can whittle down my field of fire and hone in on what I need to improve, like rucking,” he said.
“We are absolutely postured to host the regionals this year. There’s a lot to offer here. While Fort Indiantown Gap is one of the smaller National Guard training centers, it has consistently been the busiest, which is something we’re very proud of,” said Angove.
While Fort Indiantown Gap packs a lot of training capacity into a relatively small area, anyone who has trained here knows the weather itself can be a stressor. The competition coincided with a final blast of cold winter weather, with freezing temperatures, wind, and plenty of mud.
“The weather made it little more miserable than it could have been, but we have a great group of people here and we’ve been able to keep each other motivated and focused on the task at hand,” said Fave.
The weather, the terrain and the packed schedule featuring a carefully calibrated mix of mental and physical challenges, conspired to exhaust the competitors and truly test their strength.
“When my body was telling me it had enough, my mind just kept going. For example, the mystery event, after the ruck march the day before, I did not want to go up another hill, my legs didn’t want to but my mind told me to get up there,” said McGlaughlin.
Ultimately, all the competitors were able to use their mental toughness to overcome their physical limitations and exhaustion and to forge strong bonds among themselves.
“I feel that through the course of the competition, the competitors didn’t seem like competitors, it seemed like we grew into brothers and sisters, into that Army family we’re accustomed to,” said Fave. “We were there to help push each other, motivate each other and challenge each other.”
| Date Taken: | 05.01.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 05.02.2017 09:52 |
| Story ID: | 232232 |
| Location: | FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, PENNSYLVANIA, US |
| Web Views: | 306 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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