Shoot, move, communicate: AKARNG hosts Best Warrior competition

  • Published
  • By Tech Sgt. Vernon Cunningham
  • JBER Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  Gunshots ring in the air. The smell of gun powder and smoke is present everywhere. Splashing water and hurried voices amplify the sounds of controlled chaos which could easily be mistaken for a war zone. However, looking into the faces of the Soldiers who lined the field shows the fatigue, determination and focus of warriors testing their combat skills at the 2014 Alaskan National Guard Best Warrior Competition on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson from Sept. 27 to 29.

The state-run competition is regulated by the National Guard Bureau. Events are designed to test basic Soldier skills which helps determine one junior enlisted and one noncommissioned officer to be named as that level's best warrior.

"We are selecting one NCO and one soldier to represent the state at the National Guard Regional Competition," said Army Master Sgt. Justin Schaffer, 207th Multifunctional Training Regiment operations sergeant and deputy commandant. "The winners of the regionals would go to Fort Benning, Ga, to compete at the National Best Warrior Competition."

Typically, there are ten Soldiers, made up of five NCOs and five junior enlisted, which compete in the state event. They compete in events that are established by the National Guard Bureau.

"Events like a road march, weapons qualification, day and night navigation, a sergeant major's board, etc ... those are core events," said Schaffer. "We always try to have the same events they run at regionals and nationals so they can prepare themselves for what they will be doing."

Although it is a competition, the overall event serves a higher purpose beyond individual and unit accolades.

"Everything that we do in the competition is based on war-fighting doctrine," said Schaffer. "The shoot, move and communicate concept. We try to introduce real-world scenarios into it."

One of the events was the casualty evacuation lane. In this event, Soldiers had to assess a casualty, treat the casualty, call in a nine-line medical evacuation, move the casualty to an established landing zone and then physically put the casualty onto a helicopter and accompany them out of the landing zone.

Schaffer said they tried to use real-world scenarios to test Soldier skills. He said they tested the things that Soldiers do day in and day out.

Another event which helped Soldiers determine the best warrior was called the Day Stakes Lane.

"The Day Stakes Lane is a round-robin-type event that covers mainly weapon systems," said Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Bell, 2014 Alaskan National Guard Best Warrior competition grader. "The M240 and M29 machine guns, M2 heavy machine gun, MK-19 and hand grenades are tested."

Besides the various lanes set up to test Soldier skills, physiological factors are integrated into the three-day event.

After the competitors show up and inprocess that night, the first event started at 2 a.m.

"They go into night land nav and go from event to event to event," said Schaffer. "So, it's a pressure cooker. They will participate in lots of physical events, lots of mental events and they will be moving a large amount of weight. It's a culmination of physical and mental stress over the three days."

Although the events are designed to stress and test a soldier, the organizers understand they can only test warrior skills to a certain degree in a controlled environment.

"Obviously you can't simulate combat," said Schaffer. "But, we try to put some of that stress in there. Not only from the self-induced stress from it being a competition, but also the stress of time limits, weights and lack of sleep. All of these are Soldier skills that help to build them as individuals and leaders so that whatever they do in a military sense, whether it is here at home, deployed or working with other units, it's going to help improve them."

Not all of the events, however, were strictly warrior challenges. The organizers also decided to mix it up a bit. On top of the core events, they try to throw in some mystery or fun events.

"The rope climb, tarzan and monkey bars are a little different," said Bell. "It's outside the regular combat training that they do every day."

All competitors that competed in local unit or state competition brought the pride of their units with them. The Soldiers displayed their battle prowess and earned prizes for placement in the competition, which brought yet another award to the individual guard units.

"It comes down to bragging rights," said Schaffer. "Not only for the individual, but for the unit they belong to as well. They can say that they got the state best warrior, regional best warrior or the champion. It is definitely a positive for that unit."