EDINBURGH, Ind. - Screams and cheers of encouragement filled the air as Indiana Army National Guard Soldiers navigated over obstacles designed to give the most skilled amongst them a challenge – all just after they completed an eight-mile road march carrying a total weight of 75-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 2-4, to try to qualify for the 2012 Indiana Soldier and Noncommissioned 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 Army Sgt. Maj. David Rouston, Directorate of Plans, Training and Mobilization office, and the competition coordinator. "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."
Army Staff Sgt. Jerry Nenycz, an infantryman and winner in the noncommissioned officer completion for Recruiting and Retention Command, said 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 an Army combatives tournament, Army physical fitness test, warrior tasks, weapons 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 be physically and mentally challenging to the competitors.
Army Sgt. Andrae Camp, an infantryman and winner in the noncommissioned officer competition 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," Camp said.
Most Soldiers thought the eight-mile road march was the hardest, and Army Spc. Brandon Hillman, 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 teamwork 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 later this year.