Photo By Staff Sgt. Connor Davis | 720th MP Battalion’s squad is recognized for their win and presented with Army...... read more read more
Fort Hood — For the first time, the military police of the 89th MP Brigade held a best squad competition in preparation for the new Army-wide Best Squad Competition, pitting the best squads from their battalions against each other to find the most capable team of warriors. For the duration of the competition, squads were made up of a squad leader, team leader, and three junior enlisted squad members, with squads representing 720th, 759th, 93d and 97th MP Battalions.
“The Army always says, ‘don’t be an individual, don’t be a blue falcon, don’t stand out,’ so I like this addition - rather than recognizing that one individual, this brings the squad into it,” said Sgt. Noe Garcia, an MP representing 97th MP Battalion. “You don’t go to war alone, you go with your team, and this is a good way to reflect that.”
The addition of the Best Squad Competition, which will run in conjunction with the Best Warrior Competition, was brought by a renewed focus on building strong squads at every level.
“For over two years I’ve talked about the importance of building a cohesive team that is highly trained, disciplined and fit,” Sergeant Major of the Army Michael Grinston announced at the annual Maneuver Warfighter Conference. “Now it’s time to measure ourselves against that standard.”
The brigade Best Squad Competition was designed to be a grueling two day test of the Soldiers’ abilities to work together both physically and mentally, with the first day focusing on the mental aspect.
Squads were brought to the Fort Hood land navigation course at 4 A.M. and immediately got to work plotting their points under red tactical lighting, and quickly setting off under cover of darkness. After the course, squads were tested on their skills of weapons maintenance, combat casualty care, knowledge of basic Soldier tasks, ability to work together to overcome an obstacle course, and far more, all with barely time to crack open an MRE during transport.
Soldiers from every team that competed agreed that the Best Squad Competition was a good opportunity to work on their teamwork under pressure.
“We worked great as a team during the obstacle course, we identified our individual deficiencies before it began,” said Garcia. “That allowed us to cover each other, we knew a Soldier was going to have trouble with the walls, so we immediately ran up to the obstacle and positioned ourselves to throw him over each one. It was great for team building.”
After a short night’s rest the squads faced the second day of the competition, focusing on physical challenges for the teams. Events included an Army Combat Fitness Test immediately followed by a 12 mile ruck march, leading into M4 ranges, a full Law Enforcement Weapons Training and Qualification, and finally finished the day dripping with sweat from a final stress shoot. The ways in which these events challenged the squads varied greatly.
“The ruck march was hard for our team - we’re from Fort Carson, coming straight from snow to that dry heat, so we had to keep each other motivated,” said Spc. Jason Espinoza, an MP representing 759th MP Battalion. “But I was able to run really well, coming from higher elevation, so it’s a trade-off.”
The competition was close, but there could only be one winning team. The points were tallied through the night, and a banquet was prepared for the squads - who had eaten far too many MREs through the competition.
Finally, each squad was recognized for their placements, with 720th MP Battalion’s team becoming the brigade’s first best squad. Each member of the squad was presented with Army Commendation Medals, as well as unique statuettes for each Soldier to commemorate their achievements.
The squad will go on to represent the 89th MP Brigade for the upcoming III Corps. Best Squad Competition, where the best squads of III Corps. will compete - may the best squad win!
| Date Taken: | 05.30.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 07.13.2022 14:01 |
| Story ID: | 424901 |
| Location: | FORT HOOD, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 171 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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