Super Soldier

From an article I wrote for our command magazine (with minor adjustments):

The Super Soldier Challenge is an annual event designed to challenge the physical fitness and basic soldiering skills of soldiers in Misawa. Our Navy command fielded one team of four. Three teams from the Japan Ground Self Defense Force also participated, but competed amongst themselves because they were not allowed to handle the M16.

Since Sailors do not necessarily possess basic soldiering skills, we had to quickly attain the needed skills. The Army graciously instructed us and in two brief sessions of instruction, we learned enough to enable us to compete, and compete we did.

On the morning of September 21st we arose early to a gloomy, rainy day. I guess that was appropriate for the Army who says, “"If it isn'’t raining, we’re not training."” It literally rained the whole day. All of the teams started off at 0630 with a four-mile march hauling a 40-pound rucksack. After that, the teams rotated between six different events: the M16 (assemble/disassemble) Relay; the Hand Grenade Toss in which we had to duck behind bunkers and low crawl through the mud to access our targets; NBC Evaluation of donning MOPP-4 gear; Physical Fitness test of push-ups, pull-ups, and sit-ups for eight minutes; Evaluate/Treat/Evacuate a Casualty; and a Terrain Association in which there were 21 points to locate in 45 minutes in about a 30 acre area. At the end, all the teams ran in a 4X400-meter relay using a rucksack instead of a baton.

The continuous drizzle made for an interesting, slippery, cold, and muddy day. Waiting between events led to shivering so we were eager to start each new event. As the day progressed we realized that we may not win the challenge, but we still made a good showing considering our lack of experience. We finished last in only two of the events and ended up in fifth place.

We all agreed that the day proved to be one of the more physically challenging days of our lives. The soreness for the days to follow testified to our sentiment.

And oh yea, there were only five U.S. teams competing!