Fort Bliss Monitor

Survive, fight and win skills
555th Maintenance Co. holds competition

Spc. Jason Stadel
108th ADA Bde. Public Affairs

Pfc. Rien Phim assembles a M-249 Squad Automatic Weapon during the 555th Maintenance Company “Survive, Fight and Win” skill competition.

Officers and noncommissioned of-ficers from the 555th Maintenance Company, 2nd Battalion, 43rd Air Defense Artillery, 108th ADA Brigade are using training they recently learned and passing their knowledge on to the Soldiers of the company.

In December, 2-43 held a junior leader training exercise in which the officers and NCOs of the battalion learned close quarters marksmanship and convoy live fire drills. The idea of last month’s training was for the leaders of the battalion to experience the training for themselves and eventually pass it on to their troops. The 555th used a team oriented competition, which they called the “Survive, Fight and Win Skills Competition,” to become qualified for fiscal year 2005’s common tasks training and for all the Soldiers in the company to be knowledgeable with the live fire training.

Teams were comprised from squads within the company. Over a two-day period, the squads competed in 19 events including CTT, close quarter marksmanship, APFT, wea-pons and first aid. Although it was a team competition each Soldier was held to the individual standards. An event was not complete until each member of the team received a “go.” Each event had a certain number of points for first place on down.

The 555th Maintenance Company Commander, Capt. David Thompson, said the competition gives the Soldiers a less redundant experience for their yearly training. “This gives us a chance to enhance teambuilding and unity within the platoons,” Thompson said, “It also promotes a positive competitive nature.”

During the training, teams were expected to be proficient with every weapon assigned to the company, even if it wasn’t their individually assigned weapon. “[The Soldiers] get a first-hand experience on the weapons from an M9 to the M2,” 1st Sgt. Feliseo Gonzales said.

“Knowing everything around you is always going to be a benefit,” Pvt. Michael Dax said, “I’ve never really worked with a .50 [caliber] or an M9 before now. Our first sergeant and commander do an excellent job [giving us this opportunity]. You’re going to learn a lot from people that are squared away.”

The hands-on training made some of the events time consuming and challenging. Land navigation was split into day and night training. The course was 25 miles, teams used HMMWVs to complete the course within the three-hour time limit, but needed to dismount to find the exact locations. A six-mile road march was also completed, and more than 7,000 rounds of blank ammunition were used during the exercise. Thompson said the intensity of the training gave the Soldiers the best experience possible and promoted the competition aspect.

“If you get a competition going the Soldiers will try their hardest,” Sgt. John Stevens added.
As one of the team leaders, Stevens also noted the importance of every Soldier, no matter their rank, to learn other jobs and roles in the company. “If [a Soldier] is an E-3 now, they could be an E-5 in two years. They need to know all of this training.”

Stevens has been in the 555th for six months. He said the motivation and attitude of his new unit has made the exercise easy and fun. “It’s really easy to teach Soldiers that are highly motivated. Everyone has been highly motivated and excited about this. We want to do our best and win.”
That is what Stevens’ team did. Stevens, along with Sgt. Gary Babers, Spc. Bowman Halstead, Spc. Matthew Mendoza and Spc. Pedro Suriel was the winning team in the “Survive, Fight and Win” competition. For his showing, each member of the team will receive an Army Achievement Medal.



www.bliss.army.mil	Published for the Fort Bliss/El Paso, Texas Community	February 10, 2005

<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>	Survive, fight and win skills 555th Maintenance Co. holds competition Spc. Jason Stadel 108th ADA Bde. Public Affairs Pfc. Rien Phim assembles a M-249 Squad Automatic Weapon during the 555th Maintenance Company “Survive, Fight and Win” skill competition. Officers and noncommissioned of-ficers from the 555th Maintenance Company, 2nd Battalion, 43rd Air Defense Artillery, 108th ADA Brigade are using training they recently learned and passing their knowledge on to the Soldiers of the company. In December, 2-43 held a junior leader training exercise in which the officers and NCOs of the battalion learned close quarters marksmanship and convoy live fire drills. The idea of last month’s training was for the leaders of the battalion to experience the training for themselves and eventually pass it on to their troops. The 555th used a team oriented competition, which they called the “Survive, Fight and Win Skills Competition,” to become qualified for fiscal year 2005’s common tasks training and for all the Soldiers in the company to be knowledgeable with the live fire training. Teams were comprised from squads within the company. Over a two-day period, the squads competed in 19 events including CTT, close quarter marksmanship, APFT, wea-pons and first aid. Although it was a team competition each Soldier was held to the individual standards. An event was not complete until each member of the team received a “go.” Each event had a certain number of points for first place on down. The 555th Maintenance Company Commander, Capt. David Thompson, said the competition gives the Soldiers a less redundant experience for their yearly training. “This gives us a chance to enhance teambuilding and unity within the platoons,” Thompson said, “It also promotes a positive competitive nature.” During the training, teams were expected to be proficient with every weapon assigned to the company, even if it wasn’t their individually assigned weapon. “[The Soldiers] get a first-hand experience on the weapons from an M9 to the M2,” 1st Sgt. Feliseo Gonzales said. “Knowing everything around you is always going to be a benefit,” Pvt. Michael Dax said, “I’ve never really worked with a .50 [caliber] or an M9 before now. Our first sergeant and commander do an excellent job [giving us this opportunity]. You’re going to learn a lot from people that are squared away.” The hands-on training made some of the events time consuming and challenging. Land navigation was split into day and night training. The course was 25 miles, teams used HMMWVs to complete the course within the three-hour time limit, but needed to dismount to find the exact locations. A six-mile road march was also completed, and more than 7,000 rounds of blank ammunition were used during the exercise. Thompson said the intensity of the training gave the Soldiers the best experience possible and promoted the competition aspect. “If you get a competition going the Soldiers will try their hardest,” Sgt. John Stevens added. As one of the team leaders, Stevens also noted the importance of every Soldier, no matter their rank, to learn other jobs and roles in the company. “If [a Soldier] is an E-3 now, they could be an E-5 in two years. They need to know all of this training.” Stevens has been in the 555th for six months. He said the motivation and attitude of his new unit has made the exercise easy and fun. “It’s really easy to teach Soldiers that are highly motivated. Everyone has been highly motivated and excited about this. We want to do our best and win.” That is what Stevens’ team did. Stevens, along with Sgt. Gary Babers, Spc. Bowman Halstead, Spc. Matthew Mendoza and Spc. Pedro Suriel was the winning team in the “Survive, Fight and Win” competition. For his showing, each member of the team will receive an Army Achievement Medal.