40 km of a grueling march, requiring tasks at checkpoints, intellectual pressure... In the Spur Ride competition at the camp in Bemów Piski, organized by U.S. Army cavalry stationed in Poland, soldiers from 4 European armies competed for silver spurs. The Polish side was represented by territorialists from 5 Mazowieckie and 1 Podlasie BOT.
The 3rd Battalion 8th US Army Cavalry Regiment invited soldiers from Poland, Croatia, large Britain and Romania to join their 10 teams. The intent of the Spur Ride competition, which the Americans are organizing again in Poland, is to integrate the allies of the army. That's why it's crucial for soldiers to work together in a multinational team. It is besides not a crucial time of completion of the competition, but the correctness of 10 tasks during the march over 40 km. Each associate marched with a burden on his back of up to 25 kg.
At the finish line there was a commemorative diploma and spur of “Order of the Spur”. The tradition of getting a horn dates back to the beginning of American cavalry. fresh soldiers who joined this formation deserved it only erstwhile they were able to prove their skills in riding and wielding the saber. At the camp in Bemów Piski, however, it was not checked how the military were doing in cavalry specialties from erstwhile there were no tanks yet. On the another hand, they had to pass the Army Fitness Test (AFT) with a 1 mile run and a 10 km conditioning march with load. After a short break, about 200 players moved into the forest and started the main part of the competition – over 40 km of way and performing 10 tasks at checkpoints.
– Army Fitness Test started on Wednesday at 9 a.m., and we reached the finish line after nearly 48 hours. Together with a colleague of my brigade and a soldier from Romania, I was assigned to a squad in which there were a twelve Americans, including 2 women," said Fr Paulina of the 1st Podlaskie Territorial Defence Brigade, who first took part in this kind of competition. She never had a chance to compete on the way with her backpack. In Bemów Piski, she decided to see if she could handle a hard challenge. – I was curious if I was physically and mentally prepared for specified a competition. I'm glad I made it. At the end of the second day of the competition, I lacked strength, but the closeness of the meth motivated me to fight to the end – added the player.
The checkpoints tested the ability of the soldiers to interact during an assault on a bunker or evacuation of the wounded under fire. The teams besides performed method tasks under limited visibility conditions: they folded the M240 device weapon and the large caliber Browning M2. The military besides had to join the competition to test their strength and intellectual immunity. They were tasked, for example, to rotate the tower of the Gepard anti-aircraft kit and call for fire support in accordance with the Call For Fire procedure.
– The point with turning the tower was 1 of the hardest. It was besides hard during the knife fight. Instructors were very demanding and made it hard for us to execute tasks, specified as giving instructions to operate in gas masks at any point. They besides issued commands for crawling, as reported by Mr Paulin.
As the contestant points out, the squad members supported each other. “If individual was slow and slow, we waited for him and motivated him to fight. From the beginning, from a mile to a mile, we saw what group competition meant. erstwhile 1 of the contestants did not complete the prescribed race limit, the full squad had to execute additional exercises as punishment – admits the typical of 1 Podlaska BOT.
Thanks to the completion of the Spur Ride competition, Mr Paulina was convinced that she could participate in the runs included in the Grand Slam of Commandos. I was reasoning about doing my best in those commando runs. After my Spur Ride exam, I know that I can handle the next challenges. I besides know that it will not be easy to register, due to the fact that there are so many willing to take off in the large Commandos Slam, that the records for the runs end very quickly... - said the corporal.
