Joint Base Lewis McChord, Wash.- Capt. Dan Maricle and Staff Sgt. Christopher Herold, assigned to the 189th Infantry Brigade, won first place in the Gen. Omar N. Bradley Best Observer Coach Trainer Competition, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash, May 20-22,2024,
The enervating two-day competition was designed to test the skills of 11 two-person teams serving as observers, coaches, and trainers across the division.
Following the initial briefing and preparation on day zero, the competition commenced with a rigorous physical assessment, testing each competitor's endurance. The soldiers then embarked on a series of strenuous events, from stress shooting to mounted and dismounted land navigation, challenging both their physical and mental capabilities.
Maricle described the competition as a testament to his endurance. The participants spent countless hours rucking and performing many tasks, and they were awarded points based on the speed of execution and proficiency of each challenge or event.
“The hardest part of this competition was trying to perform each task while fatigued. Between rucking to each location and having to perform a task as proficient as possible, it eventually took a toll on us,” Maricle said.
“I think the stress shooting was the hardest part, being that we just got done rucking, and then we went right into more pushups and other exercises before shooting at the targets,” said Staff Sgt. Christopher Herold.
During the Best OC/T, soldiers had to ruck an estimated 25 miles. They had a physical event that consisted of six exercises that were added up to 240 repetitions. They conducted tactical casualty combat care during a medical lane, stress shooting, day and night land navigation, call for fire, and an all-out ruck to the finish line at Solo Point, Dupont, Wash.
“Building up for Best OC/T, we incorporated a workout that was like the physical aspect of the competition. We would ruck two miles once a week and incorporated 100 pushups and 50 leg tucks throughout the week,” Maricle said.
“The last ruck before the finish, we had the mindset of giving it all we got. We knew it was all or nothing. The past two months, we rucked two miles and ran two miles during the week, so we had enough endurance to lead the pack,” said Herold.
An Observer Coach Trainer is a soldier who is a subject matter expert regarding specific warfighting functions and doctrine. These OC/T’s are trained and certified to provide After Action Reviews and Final Exercise Reports, which provide immediate feedback on missions. OC/Ts are utilized to assess the readiness of the United States Army Reserve and National Guard Components for mobilization.
“As an OC/T, you honestly must be able to adapt at any given time. Competing, our mindset was to be aggressive and try to get a head start when we must move to the following location after the completed task, “Maricle said.
The top three winning teams from this competition, the First Army Division East competition, and OC/Ts from (EURCOM and INDOPACOM) will face off at the First Army Best OC/T that will occur at Fort Stewart, Georgia, in August 2024.
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| Date Taken: | 06.03.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 06.04.2024 11:59 |
| Story ID: | 472936 |
| Location: | LACEY, WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 17 |
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This work, 189th OC/T’s Wins Division West Best OC/T Competition, by SSG Devon Jones, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
