Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Zane Craig | Sgt. Michael Cohen, a member of the D.C. National Guard won the best noncommissioned...... read more read more
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FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, Pa. – Enlisted National Guard Soldiers from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington D.C. and Delaware competed in the 2017 regional Best Warrior Competition here May 11-14.
The Soldiers competed in 13 events, 12 graded, designed to test their physical and mental endurance and assess the "Whole Soldier Concept."
Spc. Philip Flint, an infantryman with Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 175th Infantry Regiment, Maryland National Guard, won the best Soldier portion of the competition, while Sgt. Michael Cohen with the D.C. National Guard won the best noncommissioned officer portion of the Best Warrior Competition.
“I felt pretty proud,” said Flint about winning the Region II competition. “I’ve been really busy with school and it was difficult to balance my Guard and civilian life. Winning just showed that I could do it. I had good mentors that trained me well enough where I could perform and win regionals for the Maryland National Guard.”
The 12 evaluated 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 three-gun lane, a warrior tasks evaluation, a hand grenade course, and finally, a leadership/appearance board.
“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 regional competition added a challenge by changing the order of events. For example, the APFT was moved from the first morning to the third day, after the ruck march. Flint said the faster pace and the different order of events at the regional level proved very challenging.
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.
“The competition at Fort Indiantown Gap was beautifully run. One of the things I like most about the Gap is that the cadre and supporting staff have always been the most professional. I have only been there few times, but their attention to detail, military bearing, and adherence to standards always leave me impressed,” said Cohen.
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 stretch of cold, rainy weather with plenty of mud.
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 Sgt. 1st Class Adam Fave, state operations noncommissioned officer with Recruiting and Retention Battalion and a Stroudstown, Pa. resident. “We were there to help push each other, motivate each other and challenge each other.”
State command SSgt. Maj. Harry Buchanan said he was proud of all the competitors, especially Sgt. 1st Class Adam Fave and Spc. Giancarlo Morante, the competitors from the Pennsylvania Army National Guard.
Cohen and Flint will represent Region II in the national level Best Warrior Competition at Camp Ripley, near Little Falls in Minnesota, July 17-20, 2017. The best Soldiers and noncommissioned officers in the Army National Guard from the seven regions across the United States will compete to represent the National Guard at the Army’s Best Warrior Competition.
| Date Taken: | 06.04.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 06.04.2017 09:15 |
| Story ID: | 236285 |
| Location: | FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, PENNSYLVANIA, US |
| Web Views: | 405 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
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