Photo By Staff Sgt. Marlana Cureton | Soldiers assigned to First Army Division East evacuate a training mannequin casualty...... read more read more
Camp Shelby, Miss.— First Army Division East hosted the third annual Best Observer, Coach/ Trainer competition, March 24-28, 2024.
The grueling four-day challenge was designed to test the unique skill set of 13 two-Soldier teams who are currently serving across the division as OC/T’s.
Maj. Gen. Brian Howay defined an OC/T as the epitome of Army professionals, as a leader who is skilled in many tasks, but training management first and foremost. He describes the competition as a way to test and stretch their capabilities and really push them in different ways.
“We have OC/T’s and want to know who is the best, and measure who is the best,” Howay said, “and the best way to get after that is direct competition.”
After initial preparation and instruction was given day zero, the first day got off to a literal bang with thunder and lightning framing the field for an Expert Physical Fitness Assessment and quickly moved into the other evaluated events which included: land navigation, an obstacle course, a training evaluation of a simulated casualty, and others.
Capt. Cole Andrekus, assigned to 177th Armored Brigade, who completed the competition solo after his teammate was injured, described the competition as very demanding, but the support from others involved in the competition helped him complete and be competitive.
“I definitely learned a lot about myself,” Andrekus said, “It’s always beneficial to push yourself and put yourself through what you expect troops to go through.”
During the competition the competitors walked over miles and were exposed to the elements. The weather was volatile, ranging from thunderstorms to clear skies and warm weather with the potential of heat casualties and other injuries. Knowing the potential for these hazards would arise, leadership pre-planned the use of the Soldier Monitoring System (SMS) and the Heat Illness Prevention System (HIPS). These devises were used to track and monitor the teams.
“We were asked to support the First Army Best OC/T competitors and provide the system to help leadership conduct a safe competition while allowing the competitors to compete at the highest capacity they could,” said Kyla Driver, Program Manager for BlackOhm, who provided the systems.
She explained that SMS and HIPS work together to send both GPS and health information up to the server to be viewed by anyone watching the event, and by knowing the location and pairing the physiological data provides a more comprehensive algorithm to leadership of if a competitor was at an elevated risk of experiencing a heat illness, giving them time to respond and check on them as necessary.
With these precautions in place, the competitors were able to make their way through each event at a high intensity pace that let them focus on giving their all.
Sgt. 1st Class Vincent Morales, assigned to Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center (JPMRC), described the competition as being very mentally and physically challenging because they didn’t know what to expect when first arriving, so he had to rely on his experience over his career to come through it.
“I think being able to push through each event with little to no preparation time makes you learn a lot about yourself and what you’re capable of,” Morales said.
Capt. Kyle Thorpe and Staff Sgt. Todd Keitt, assigned to 188th Infantry Brigade echoed the description of physical and mental challenges that they experienced during the competition, and explained how they relied on their partnership to motivate and push one another through to the end.
“Captain Thorpe motivated me and kept my head in the game and helped me push past my limits when I wasn’t at my most mentally or physically focused,” Keitt said.
Thorpe agreed, saying, “We come from completely different backgrounds but when one of us was down a little bit, we picked each other up quickly and sharing this bond over the past few days has been awesome.”
Being an OC/T means being subject matter experts on doctrine and specific warfighting functions, but it also means training as you teach and fight, and the events of the week showcased the competitors abilities to do both.
Command Sgt. Maj. Evan Lewandowski described the competition as a way to improve the proficiencies of the OC/Ts through building and keeping a competitive edge while strengthening units through shared strengths and cohesion.
“Competition brings out the best in people,” said Lewandowski, “This competition allows us to see all aspects of OC/T and the takeaway is knowing what we are doing right and what we need to improve.”
He explained that First Army OC/Ts are building the squad leaders and field grade officers of the future. That they increase the understanding of how the Army functions and what it means to be a master trainer.
“The competition helps you to shape yourself as a trainer and see not just one formation, but all of them,” Lewandowski said.
The competition ended with Sgt. 1st. Class Bryan Bobe Figueroa and Staff Sgt. Jason Earnest in 3rd place, Lt. Col. Matt Greenwood and Staff Sgt. Ethan Charles in 2nd place, and Cpt. Rafael Centeno and Sgt. 1st Class Christian Mandzy taking the 1st place prize, which included a trip to Normandy.
Competitors from this event and the First Army Division West competition, will face off at the First Army Best OC/T that will occur at Fort Stewart, Georgia in August 2024.
| Date Taken: | 03.29.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 04.04.2024 14:32 |
| Story ID: | 467817 |
| Location: | CAMP SHELBY, MISSISSIPPI, US |
| Web Views: | 182 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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