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POTCHEFSTROOM, South Africa – New York Air Guard Senior Airman Vincenza Costanzo was the top scoring woman at the end of the week-long South African National Defence Force Military Skills Competition which ran from October 28 to November 2.
Costanzo was one of 17 New York National Guard Soldiers and Airmen who represented the United States at the annual military competition held at South Africa’s Army Support Base Potchefstroom.
Teams from the Netherlands, Germany, Namibia, and Zimbabwe also took part in the competition, along with South African teams.
The 133-competitor event tested participants with a conventional obstacle course, a swimming obstacle course, pistol and rifle marksmanship events, an eight-kilometer run in combat gear, and a grenade throwing competition.
The New York National Guard, which has had a State Partnership Program relationship with South Africa’s military since 2003, regularly sends teams to compete.
This year 10 Soldiers and seven Airmen --12 men and five women-- represented the New York National Guard.
The New York team captain this year, Lt. Col. Andrew Miller, commander of the 102nd Military Police Battalion, said Costanzo — “Vinnie” to her teammates— “was phenomenal.”
Costanzo was a competitive diver at Canisus University and it showed, Miller said. She performed superbly in the unusual water obstacle event and did well at everything else, he added.
Costanzo finished in second place in three of the events. Senior Airman Jayla Decicco took two third place finishes and Army Guard Staff Sgt. Stacey Hart took third place in another event.
The New York National Guard women did incredibly well, he said.
Airman 1st Class Roko Jelavic took a third place for men.
Miller and Army Guard Staff Sgt. Jonathan Harris, assigned to A Troop, 2nd Squadron, 101st Cavalry, finished in the top 25 percent of men who competed.
The New Yorkers’ showing was more impressive in light of the fact that the other foreign military teams practice for these events full time, said Air Guard Chief Master Sgt. Catrina Gray, the women’s team coach, an emergency manager from the 107th Attack Wing.
“The Germans and Dutch, they practice all the time on these courses,” Miller said.
Miller, who participated in the event in 2023, said he was impressed by how well the New York National Guard team came together.
“We all jelled really well together,” Miller said.
“The people that go on these kinds of missions are usually high performers,” Miller explained. “You get a really good group of people who know how important that this is and they want to do well and they encourage each other.”
Costanzo, who is also an emergency manager in the 107th Attack Wing, agreed with Miller’s assessment.
“We crushed it, I think, because we all were competitive and we all know our strengths and how we could perform well,” she said.
The obstacle course was the toughest event for her and for the other Americans as well, Costanzo said.
“Potchefstroom is almost a mile above sea level, it was a hot summer in South Africa, it’s very arid and the air quality is not the best,” Costanzo explained. “So, it was a challenge for people used to New York’s more temperate climate.”
“It really took a toll on your lungs. You coughed a lot,” Miller agreed.
Air Guard Major Antonios Dimoulas, the deputy staff judge advocate for the 107th Attack Wing, and the “old man” of the group at 44 years old, said that despite the difficulties he was happy to compete.
“I wanted to do something in a very military way, that would allow me to push myself physically and do it with a group of people from the United States that would have one common goal,” Dimoulas explained.
Both the water obstacle course and the regular obstacle course were spectator events for local people who are invited in to watch, Miller noted.
So, they were performing in front of a crowd both times, he said.
The marksmanship competitions required the Americans to shoot with South African weapons.
That was also a challenge, Dimoulas said, because the South African R4 rifle is not as accurate as the American M16A2 or M4 rifles the New Yorkers were used to.
One lesson learned from the competition, both Dimoulas and Miller said, was how well the New York National Guard women did in the competition.
“It was an incredible highlight, just how well our women military members performed,” Dimoulas said.
While the Soldiers and Airmen enjoyed the competition, the chance to meet military people from other nations and learn about South Africa’s culture was a major part of the event.
“Regardless of who came home with a medal around their neck, we all won at building friendships and relationships with soldiers from other countries we never dreamed we would meet,” Gray said.
She was also impressed by just how the New Yorkers were treated by the other competitors, Gray added.
“The most interesting thing was the humble respect that all of the countries automatically gave all our New York National Guard members simply because we were part of the United States military,” she said.
Representing New York in the competition were:
Women’s Team
• Senior Airman Vincenza Costanzo, 107th Attack Wing
• Staff Sgt. Stacey Hart, 2nd Squadron, 101st Cavalry
• Senior Airman Jayla Decicco, 105th Airlift Wing
• Senior Airman Alexa Reeves, 105th Airlift Wing
• Chief Master Sgt. Catrina Gray, 107th Attack Wing
Men’s Team
• Sgt. 1st Class Nicholas Zito, 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry
• Master Sgt. Eugene Marmontov, 105th Airlift Wing
• Staff Sgt. David Hacker, 109th Airlift Wing
• Airman 1st Class Roko Jelavic, 109th Airlift Wing
• Sgt. Jonathan Harris, 2nd Squadron, 101st Cavalry
• Senior Airman Khalik James, 105th Airlift Wing
• Sgt. Essa Njie, 14th Finance Detachment
• Lt. Col. Andrew Miller, 102nd Military Police Battalion
• Sgt. John Winheld, 152nd Engineer Company
• Major Antonios Dimoulas, 107th Attack Wing
• Sgt. Craig Rowell, 152nd Engineer Co.
• 1st Sgt. Thomas Carpenter, 2nd Battalion, 108th Infantry
| Date Taken: | 11.18.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 11.18.2024 13:29 |
| Story ID: | 485562 |
| Location: | POTCHEFSTROOM, ZA |
| Web Views: | 57 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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