Fort Bliss Monitor

108th holds Organization Day

Spc. Jason Stadel
108th ASA bde. Public Affairs

108th ADA Brigade Commander, Col. David Mann, presents 1st Sgt. Anthony Walker, with the trophy for the overall battery/company championship.

There is always a bit of friendly competition between the units that make up 108th Air Defense Artillery Brigade. During the brigade’s annual Organizational Day, held recently at Biggs Park, the competition was at its highest as batteries, companies and battalion battled to be the best.

Bragging rights for the best battalion came down to the last event of the day, the flag- football championship game. After eight of the nine events, 1st Batt., 7 ADA and 2nd Batt. 43rd ADA were virtually deadlocked in points. In the flag football championship, 51st Maintenance Company (1-7) squared off against E Btry. 2-43. In the end 51st knocked off E 2-43and the battalion championship went to the “No Fear” Soldiers of 1-7.

It was a good way to end a great day of competition during the Organizational Day. “Today is good for camaraderie in the brigade,” Capt. Joseph Siemien, one of the many organizers of the event, said, “The main thing is for the Soldiers to have fun.”

For most of the Soldiers in the brigade, Organizational Day is a break from the daily work routine. A lot of hard work behind the scenes was necessary to pull off such a large event. Soldiers from every unit in the brigade, and most of the 108th ADA operations staff, pulled overtime like shifts to make the event a success. “A lot of time and hard work went into this,” Siemien said.

“The hardest working group was the [dining facility] guys,” Operations sergeant major, Sgt. Maj. Clay Mattson, said. “They fed 1,200 Soldiers and family members. For them this was a working exercise, hats off to them.”
Mattson said events such as Organizational Day are a good break for the troops. “It allows units to come together yearly and compete in many different areas. And it awards bragging rights to the winners.”

Overall, Mattson deemed the event a success; for the most part the events ran on time and there were no major incidents. Mattson hopes to build on next year’s event by possibly adding more individual events to the day.



www.bliss.army.mil	Published for the Fort Bliss/El Paso, Texas Community	October 21, 2004

Maj. Brian Bowen, 2-43 executive officer, was one of the many 108th ADA Brigade leaders to take the plunge in the dunking booth. Money raised from the dunking booth will benefit the FRG. The 108th ADA Brigade Organizational Day basketball event was one of the most contested events. 208th Signal Company took home the championship. <map name="boxmap-b4"> <area shape="rect" coords="0, 589, 120, 600" href="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm/privacy-policy.html?o=1" > <area coords="0,0,10000,10000" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=&creative=92501&camp=8117&link_code=dl1&path=subst/misc/amazon-cobrand-cc/v3/marketing-from-associates-step1.html/ref%3Db1_assoc_29" > </map>	108th holds Organization Day Spc. Jason Stadel 108th ASA bde. Public Affairs 108th ADA Brigade Commander, Col. David Mann, presents 1st Sgt. Anthony Walker, with the trophy for the overall battery/company championship. There is always a bit of friendly competition between the units that make up 108th Air Defense Artillery Brigade. During the brigade’s annual Organizational Day, held recently at Biggs Park, the competition was at its highest as batteries, companies and battalion battled to be the best. Bragging rights for the best battalion came down to the last event of the day, the flag- football championship game. After eight of the nine events, 1st Batt., 7 ADA and 2nd Batt. 43rd ADA were virtually deadlocked in points. In the flag football championship, 51st Maintenance Company (1-7) squared off against E Btry. 2-43. In the end 51st knocked off E 2-43and the battalion championship went to the “No Fear” Soldiers of 1-7. It was a good way to end a great day of competition during the Organizational Day. “Today is good for camaraderie in the brigade,” Capt. Joseph Siemien, one of the many organizers of the event, said, “The main thing is for the Soldiers to have fun.” For most of the Soldiers in the brigade, Organizational Day is a break from the daily work routine. A lot of hard work behind the scenes was necessary to pull off such a large event. Soldiers from every unit in the brigade, and most of the 108th ADA operations staff, pulled overtime like shifts to make the event a success. “A lot of time and hard work went into this,” Siemien said. “The hardest working group was the [dining facility] guys,” Operations sergeant major, Sgt. Maj. Clay Mattson, said. “They fed 1,200 Soldiers and family members. For them this was a working exercise, hats off to them.” Mattson said events such as Organizational Day are a good break for the troops. “It allows units to come together yearly and compete in many different areas. And it awards bragging rights to the winners.” Overall, Mattson deemed the event a success; for the most part the events ran on time and there were no major incidents. Mattson hopes to build on next year’s event by possibly adding more individual events to the day.