NEWTON FALLS, Ohio (11/07/15) — Soldiers of the 73rd Troop Command tested their physical and mental abilities in a strenuous brigade-level Best Warrior Competition Nov. 6-7 at the Camp Ravenna Joint Military Training Center.
Staff Sgt. Matthew Paul, a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear specialist with the 637th Chemical Company in Kettering, Ohio, won the noncommissioned officer category and Pfc. Taylor England, an information technology specialist with the 73rd Troop Command in Columbus, Ohio, won the Soldier category.
Paul and England will represent the 73rd at the state level against other brigades in March 2016 at Camp Ravenna. The winners of the state Best Warrior Competition will represent Ohio in the 2016 Army National Guard Region IV competition (encompassing seven Midwest states), which will be conducted in the Buckeye State for the first time in several years.
“The Soldiers out here are the best of the best,” said Master Sgt. Richard Jones, brigade supply noncommissioned officer-in-charge for 73rd Troop Command. “We're taking units' best and pitting them up against each other.”
The 73rd BWC measured warrior aptitude and competitive spirit in a number of challenging events.
Command Sgt. Maj. William Workley, command sergeant major of 73rd Troop Command, said the annual brigade BWC gives Soldiers of his three battalions the opportunity to showcase their talents and perform tasks under pressure.
Workley said there has been a “paradigm shift” from the old model of the appearance board-centric Soldier of the Year competition to a more physically demanding BWC.
“Our hope is that they all go back and talk to their peers as ambassadors, saying 'guess what I did? I competed in an athletic setting,'” Workley said. “It's a great event.”
For Soldiers of the brigade's headquarters detachment, 137th Aviation Battalion, 437th Military Police Battalion and 155th Chemical Battalion, the competition began with a written exam and board interviews Nov. 6 that tested general Army knowledge, professional appearance and mental acuity.
The next day Soldiers took a modified Army Physical Fitness Test (sit-ups, push-ups, pull-ups and a 4-mile run) followed successively by a stress shoot, a land navigation test in the rugged, autumn woods of Camp Ravenna and two Army Warrior Tasks.
The first warrior task had Soldiers assembling and disassembling an M249 light machine gun, an M4 carbine and an M240B machine gun. The second task had Soldiers evaluating a casualty, stopping the bleeding of a casualty and calling in a nine-line medevac.
“A Soldier has to be first, mentally tough to compete in the Best Warrior Competition, because he or she is going to be mentally challenged,” Jones said. “The physical aspect is also very demanding. We are pushing them to the brink of exhaustion. Their will to win and be competitive is going to outweigh their will to quit.”
Soldiers of the 73rd showcased the will to persevere and, according to 73rd leadership, performed at a high level.
“It's up there with the hardest things I've ever done in the Army,” said Sgt. Jamie Morrin, a military police officer with the 323rd Military Police Company in Toledo, Ohio.
Morrin said she would encourage Soldiers to seek out the opportunity to compete in a BWC because the mental and physical struggle brings satisfaction.
“I had frustration, but I always try to do my best,” Morrin said. “That's what I teach my daughter. That's what I teach my Soldiers. You never know what you're capable of until it's put in front of you.”
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