MCRD PARRIS ISLAND, S.C. - The Marines of Support Battalion challenged their stamina, strength and skill against one another during a quarterly field meet at the Support Battalion physical training field May 27.
The Marines were separated into 10-man teams for the competition, which pitted them against eight different challenges throughout the event. The main purpose of the meet was to provide a break in the monotonous nature of some of the Marines’ work.
“We like to bring the Marines out here quarterly to get them out of the office and let them do some physical stuff,” said Lt. Col. Nathan Maker, Support Battalion commanding officer. “There definitely is an element of ‘groundhog day’ here at Parris Island, so we bring them out to get tired, sweaty and dirty -- the stuff Marines want to do,” Maker said.
The Marines faced a myriad of challenges that would test them both mentally and physically. The first event was a battalion formation run to warm them up for the challenges ahead.
The contest required Marines to complete an obstacle course, drag a motorized cart around the perimeter of the Support Battalion PT field, jog down Chicken Farm Road to a set of pullup bars to perform 300 pullup burpees, complete a confidence course obstacle called the Slide for Life, as well as a tire-flip and a tug-of-war competition.
Pullup burpees are an exercise in which the Marines jumped up to the bar and did a pullup and then dropped down to do a pushup counting as one complete burpee, while the Slide for Life requires Marines to slide down a rope in various positions from an elevated platform to the ground.
Every event had to be completed as a team.
“I really enjoyed the aspect of starting together and finishing together,” said Staff Sgt. Laura Carrillo, drill instructor at Support Battalion. “These events really help bring us together and boost our sense of camaraderie.”
For Maker, who will be leaving the battalion soon, the field meet is one of the methods toward changing the battalion in the manner he wanted to since he first arrived there.
“One thing that I wanted to change during my time here was to focus on the Marine rather than the recruit,” Maker said. “I wanted this to be a place where the Marines could work on their careers and leave the battalion as better Marines than when they came in.”
The camaraderie-building nature of the events showed in the smiles and laughter of the Marines.
“Even though I almost threw up earlier, I loved it,” said Sgt. Karin Wilk, drill instructor at Support Battalion after finishing the tire flip. “It was fun being out here.”