Photo By Sgt. William Hill | Indiana Army National Guard soldier Spc. Derek Thrasher, from Indianapolis for...... read more read more
EDINBURGH, Ind. - Screams of pain, self motivation, frustration and cheers of encouragement filled the air as Indiana Army National Guard soldiers pulled, crawled, and jumped, forcing their fatigued bodies, over obstacles designed to give the most skilled soldiers a challenge, just shortly after completing an eight-road mile march wearing 35-pound body armor and carrying a rucksack weighing 35 pounds.
Soldiers from four major commands including the Indiana National Guard Recruiting and Retention Command, the 219th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade, the Indiana Regional Training Institute and Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center competed here March 2 through 4, to try and qualify for the 2012 Indiana Soldier and Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year competition.
"The purpose of this competition is going to be a little different. There is not going to be one NCO winner and one soldier winner for this whole group," said competition coordinator Sgt. Maj. David Rouston for Directorate of Plans, Training and Mobilization, while addressing the competitors. "We have four commands that are defined here. We will have four winners from each category. So, you are competing against your soldiers in your major command but you will be side-by-side. So I am hoping that it will spark a little bit better competition and bring out the spirit of competition in each of you."
According to Staff Sgt. Jerry Nenycz, from Plymouth, Ind., an infantryman and winner in the non-commissioned officer completion for Recruiting and Retention Command, competing with soldiers from the other major commands not only sparked competition but gave insight to who the future competitors are for the state competition.
"Indirectly, I got to see some of my competition for the state tournament so I was doing a little intel right there. But I got a good look on some the events we are going to have and got to identify some of my weaknesses and strengths and see what I need to work on [for the state competition]," Nenycz said.
The events consisted of a combatives tournament, Army physical fitness test, warrior tasks, M4 qualifications, day and night land navigation, an eight-mile road march, an obstacle course and a personal appearance board, all of which were designed to physical and mentally challenge the competitors.
Sgt. Andrae Camp, from Indianapolis, an infantryman and winner in the non-commissioned officer completion for Camp Atterbury, said he felt privileged and honored to be in the competition.
"The overall competition was awesome; the highlight of the competition was qualification day, getting on the range and shooting," said Camp.
Most soldiers thought the eight-mile road march was the hardest, and Spc. Brandon Hillman, from Crown Point, Ind., a combat engineer and winner of the soldier competition for the Recruiting and Retention Command agreed.
"The hardest event for me was the road march," Hillman said. "I actually did very well. I finished fourth overall and third among the soldiers but it was very grueling and it took a lot out of me."
For Nenycz, the most challenging aspect was not a particular event but not perfuming the best in early events.
"The most challenging point overall for me was initially I did not do as well as I planned and for me to come back after that and to come out on top," he said. "Well it was kind of a testament of the training and the team work we got going on here."
The soldiers and non commissioned officers that qualified to advance to the next level of competition are scheduled to compete against each other and other highly trained soldiers for title of 2012 Indiana Soldier and Non-commissioned of the Year.
| Date Taken: | 03.04.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 03.05.2012 20:22 |
| Story ID: | 84775 |
| Location: | EDINBURGH, INDIANA, US |
| Web Views: | 84 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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