By Wendy Brown
Fort Bliss Garrison Public Affairs
After four days of challenging, rigorous testing, competitors in the 204th Military Intelligence Battalion Best Warrior Competition looked back and found they had discovered a dynamic aspect to their unit.
“I liked how everyone gave support whether you were in the company or not,” said Pfc. Anthony Cuevas, assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company and winner of the Soldier portion of the competition. “I had Alpha (Company) people cheering me on, Bravo and Charlie. I like how this unit sticks together and works with their Soldiers who are in need.”
In all, four Soldiers and three NCOs participated in the competition, which included a physical training gest, a board, an essay, a land navigation evaluation, Electronic Skills Testing on the M4, Mk 19 grenade launcher, .50-caliber machine gun and M240B machine gun, a written test, Army Warrior Tasks, a pugil stick challenge and a road march. Command teams chose the competitors based on their performance during internal boards and tests.
Pfc. Kanisha Chinana was the runner up in the Soldier competition, while Sgt. Ryan Nelson won the NCO portion, and Sgt. Lily Evans was the runner up NCO. Chinana and Nelson also commented on the battalion’s tightknit spirit.
“The camaraderie was amazing,” Nelson said. “Every other competition I’ve ever done in other units, it’s always been, ‘Look out for yourself. Do what you can do, because you’re going up the guy next to you.’ Here it’s always like, ‘What do you have questions on? What can we do to assist you? This is how you can prepare.’”
Chinana, assigned to Company A, said the level of sportsmanship impressed her.
“Maybe HHC or someone knew something that I didn’t, I could just ask and they would tell me,” Chinana said. “It wasn’t like, ‘No, I’m not going to help you at all,’ so we kind of helped each other on that.”
Command Sgt. Maj. Shane Courchene, command sergeant major, 204th MI Bn., said Nelson and Cuevas now go on to the 116th Military Intelligence Brigade Best Warrior Competition at Fort Gordon, Georgia, April 16 through 20. If they do well there, they could go on to a regional competition, the Intelligence and Security Command competition and ultimately the Army-wide competition.
For winning, Nelson and Cuevas each received an Army Achievement Medal, a trophy and a four-day pass. The runners up each received a certificate of achievement signed by the battalion commander and a four-day pass. Other participants received three-day passes.
Lt. Col. Stephen Clower, commander, 204th MI Bn., said he appreciates the effort of all the Soldiers and NCOs who participated, as well as everyone who helped organize the competition.
The 204th MI Bn. is an independent unit that conducts highly specialized aerial reconnaissance missions across the globe. They are currently supporting Department of Defense operations in four countries on three continents and their Soldiers deploy on a constant rotation of three to six months.