By Army 1st Sgt. D. Keith Johnson
354th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
HOEVELTE, Denmark - A few more Gold medals are coming home to
the U.S., but they won’t all be from the Olympics in London.
The Team U.S.A Military Men’s Team won Gold
Medals in the Novice category at the NATO Interallied Confederation of Reserve
Officers’ Military Skills Competition held here. Thirty-five three-person teams
from 14 countries participated. Out of 6000 possible points, the U.S.A team
edged out the Silver Medal winners by 8.7 points.
Pennsylvania Air National Guard Staff
Sgts. Matthew Stern and Mark Jones along with Air Force Reserve Maj. Brendon
Ritz comprised the Novice Team.
Ritz, is an operations officer with the
Pacific Command J3, Jones, is an Infantry squad leader with Company B, 1st
Battalion, 111th Infantry Regiment and Stern, is a recruiter with the
Pennsylvania National Guard Recruiting Command.
For Ritz, it was about one thing.
“Before we got here, our coaches thought we had a chance, but once we got here,
it was about just doing your best. As Novices, we just wanted to come out here
and not make mistakes.”
It was a very close meet, as explained
by Jones.
“The competition really displayed a
metaphor for life in that everything that you do, matters. We won only by a few
points, which we figured roughly to be equivalent to 20 seconds in
orienteering, half of a hand grenade toss, or one good round on the range.
That's how close this battle for the gold was!”
Also, a U.S. female competitor won a
Gold Medal in the International category. When a country brings more competitors
than can form a three-person team, they are put into a pool and teams are
created. The U.S. Team had two females put into that situation when a third
U.S. female was unable to attend. Four International teams consisting of two
males and one female were created.
Washington, D.C., National Guard Capt.
Leala McCollum was a member of an International Team that won the Gold Medal
for that category. McCollum broke a toe midway through and had to be replaced
by another alternate, but her shooting and Combat Casualty Care scores were
enough to help her team win the Gold. McCollum, from Arlington, Va., is a
medevac pilot with the 121st Medical Company - Air Ambulance.
McCollum, Airman 1st Class Ziven Drake,
and the two other females on the International teams were given Sportsmanship
Awards from the Danish delegation. The teams changed right before the
competition started, and they adapted and competed. Drake, is an F-16 crew
chief with the 158th Fighter Wing of the Vermont Air National Guard.
The CIOR competition consists of a
pentathlon with rifle and pistol marksmanship, land and water obstacle courses
and a 10-15 kilometer orienteering course, as well as Combat Casualty Care, and
a written Laws of Armed Conflict test. Team and individual medals are given for
each event as well as overall.
One of the positives from the
competition, something not able to be tabulated on a score card is the
relationships developed with military members from other countries.
“The purpose of CIOR is to strengthen
the alliance and build our partnerships with our NATO allies,” said U.S. Navy
Reserve Cmdr. Grant Staats. “More than medaling, representing the U.S.A as
leaders and professionals in this Partnership Program is what we aim to do.
Achieving these goals will bring the strong finishes to us, every time.”
Staats is the commanding officer for the
Joint Reserve Unit, Special Operations Command – Joint Capabilities, and has
been involved with the U.S. Team since 1995, as a competitor for 12 years and
officer in charge for the last five years.
Staats had high praise for his team.
“Success and failure are elements of
life. Our competitors experienced both this year. But, each and every one of
them displayed strong character, unending will, clear perspective, and a deep
sense of honor,” he said. “Our partnering nations regularly approached me with
compliments about the quite professionals we had on our team this year. I am
extremely proud of the men and women we took to Denmark for the 2012 CIOR
MilComp.”
The competitors also had kind words for
the partnering nations.
“The competing countries were amazing,”
said Jones. “Their amazing and sincere, admirable sportsmanship is something we
should all strive for in life and is what this competition is all about.”
Posts
