Photo By Terrance Bell | Staff Sgt. Janson Livery, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Polk,...... read more read more
FORT PICKETT – The Combat Repair Team Competition, event two under the U.S. Army Ordnance Crucible, got underway here Monday with a long list of tasks deemed necessary for vehicle maintenance and repair crews in the field.
Fifteen seven-Soldier teams from installations as far away as Kuwait and Germany are on hand for the five-day event designed to test teamwork and critical thinking skills during the application of technical solutions to common field problems. The Ordnance School is host for the competition. Its 59th Ord. Brigade has oversight responsibility.
Col. Sean Davis, 59th Ord. Bde. commander, was on site Tuesday. He said the competition is a “best of the best” event testing Soldiers’ technical and tactical skills.
“It provides a medium for maintenance Soldiers – those who hold the 91 and 94 series MOS – to come and compete against each other and make the claim of being the best based on actual performance, not via a board appearance or on paper.”
The competition includes an Army Physical Fitness Test and 12-mile tactical foot march along with scenario-driven tactical events under the Defend the Repair Site and Recovery and Battle Damage Assessment Repair Operations. The tactical events each boast a number of tasks critical to mission completion.
On Tuesday, a day in which temperatures were well into the 90s and humidity at high levels, several teams tackled the RBDA Ops events. The overturned vehicle task was especially challenging, requiring a high level of technical know-how, said Staff Sgt. Kiel Gerbus, an evaluator.
“Contestants have to identify what chains and shackles they are going to use to upright the vehicle, they have to know the weight of the vehicle and they have to decide on the distance between the wrecker and overturned vehicles so they don’t collide when they roll it back over,” he said.
Soldiers also must hook up the chains to the right points on the vehicle to avoid further damage, added Gerbus.
For many teams, the overturned vehicle event revealed differences between how they conduct business in the field versus the regulatory procedures.
“It showed us that you have to do things by the book, and that if you don’t practice it (by the book), you’re going to forget the right way to do it,” said 1st Lt. Cole Buehler, team leader, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Polk, La.
Spc. Christopher White, a member of Buehler’s team, was responsible for security during the overturned vehicle lane. Overall, he said the varied mix of personnel, units and their missions here present a unique training experience.
“I’ve learned a lot,” said the computer and detection systems repairer after his team’s performance. “There are people here from everywhere bringing what they know. Some people know this, and some know that. It’s just a big compilation of knowledge. You learn things about the career field and yourself you didn’t know. It’s been a really good experience.”
Sgt. 1st Class Mark Gliza, White’s noncommissioned officer in charge and a veteran of these events, said it is a showcase that allows troops to demonstrate their abilities.
“It gives my Soldiers a chance to say, ‘Hey, look, if I’m among the best, let me prove my point – see what I know or don’t know so I can gain the knowledge to take back to my unit,” he said.
Aside from the individual benefits, the CRT and events like it provide the schoolhouse an opportunity to validate institutional training, said Davis.
“What this does for the Army is it allows us to assess the gaps and seams between the institutional, operational and self-development domains,” he said. “It allows us to see the effects of what we teach at Fort Lee come to fruition in a tactical field environment.”
The CRT concludes Friday with a closing ceremony at which the winners will be announced.
The last leg of the Ordnance Crucible, the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Competition, is scheduled for Sept. 11-15 at Fort A.P. Hill
| Date Taken: | 08.24.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 08.24.2017 13:11 |
| Story ID: | 245853 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 205 |
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