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Hats off to officers of 174th

  • Published
  • By Capt. Antonia Greene
  • 174th Infantry Brigade
JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. --  The 174th Infantry Brigade conducted its inaugural Best Officer Competition at the end of August on the Dix Ranges.

The 48-hour, non-stop event kicked off with a 6 p.m. ruck-sack inventory ensuring all participants were carrying the same prescribed load, approximately sixty pounds. The officers then had the opportunity to review weapons systems and other information they may be tested on in the hours ahead. The officers began at 3:30 a.m. with a physical-fitness challenge consisting of push ups, sit ups, chin ups and a five-mile run followed by a water-survival test.

The Patriot officers then conducted an M-9 pistol stress fire, followed by a ruck march to the M-240 machine gun range and another four-mile ruck march to the combatives fight house with fewer than 20 minutes to get changed, repack and eat something. The officers fought two against two in assigned buddy teams in a hand-to-hand grappling-competition bracket before picking up their rucks again to march to the next station for weapons assembly. Given a closed box with parts for four weapons systems officers had to choose which parts went together. Downtime consisted of weapons cleaning and field hygiene.

The competition continued after four hours of rest with a written test at 1 a.m. on Army principles, unit concepts and current events. A land navigation written test and night-into-day four-point course followed. The Patriot officers tested the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Mud Run course followed by a traditional obstacle course. The events continued on for hours consisting of grenade ranges, tire flips, casualty pulls and a buddy run to name a few.

"You can see a lot about someone in 48 hours - put them through 17 different events: academics, soldier skills, physical challenges -- to see the character of a person, not just if they can find a point in the dark, but how they react to that," remarked Col. Craig A Osborne, commander, 174th Infantry Brigade, about what he observed.

Osborne reiterated the four primary goals for the competition: first challenge them mentally and physically to push them beyond their self-imposed limits; assess them comparatively to their peers using a point system, enhance teamwork amongst officers in the brigade; and enhance espirit de corps among the officers and the noncommissioned officers who ran the competition.

"No one quit; I was happy with how everyone competed and I was most concerned to see if they had heart and if they would just continue on," said Osborne. "We had combat arms and combat support officers finish in the top 10."

"I once heard, 'nothing builds greater units than great victories or shared hardships,'" Osborne continued. "There's a sense of pride in having accomplished that with the brigade competition."