US Army Europe Best Sapper Competition

Well after volunteering to compete in the Best Sapper Competition I had been training for two months with 10 other guys. We ruck marched nearly every day after lifting weights. The Battalion had their own competition and selected two teams to go to compete in the Brigade competition. The Battalion competition was one full day (0100-2100) and the Brigade one lasted three days. There were ten teams in the Brigade competition and my teammate was PFC Easterly who has been in the Army for only 8 months. This means that combined we have less than three years in service. Neither of us are Sapper Tabbed (meaning we have been to the school the competition is based on).

The first event was a Non-standard Physical Fitness Test. This consisted of the two man teams doing five minutes of push ups...


sit ups...


three minutes of pull ups...


and a three mile IBA (bulletproof vest) run.



My partner threw up after completing each mile but we still managed to finish...and we didn't come in last!

The next event was a demolitions exam in which you calculate how much of a certain type of explosives to use to create a desired effect. Some examples are to blow up trees to block a roadway (called an abatis), create a road crater, blow up concrete or steel supports, etc.


Then we had a hands on exam to identify deficiencies in ignition systems.


Then we had an approximately 16 mile road march. We carried 35 lbs in our ruck plus water and a rifle. It was painful and miserable because a lot of the terrain was covered in snow or ice. Only one team finished within the four hour time limit. We made a mistake by backtracking a little bit but still did fairly well.

The next morning we conducted "Sapper Stakes" which consisted of the following events:

Stress shoot where you run to different ranges and fire a M203 grenade launcher, M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW), M240B machine gun, M9 pistol, and M4 rifle.



Next we moved to demolitions where we placed Timber Cutting explosives


and Counter-Force charges on concrete pillars


Next we moved to Breaching charges, the water impulse charge made from IV bags


and the linear charge (on the right)


The final four events of the "Sapper Stakes" were the following:
-Identify and tie various knots
-Assemble the five weapons we fired at the stress shoot. The only trick was we only had five minutes and the weapons were in a huge pile of pieces on a table.
-Construct a poncho raft which is used to float two rucksacks on water in ten minutes.
-Secure a dummy in a Skedco (stretcher they use to airlift people into helicopters) in 7 minutes
-Treat casualties in a room with strobe lights and loud "sounds of war"

Then we had land navigation which was a six hour event to find six points. I thought this was going to be cake but that was before I saw the 100 foot cliffs that many of the points were on top of. We still found 5 out of 6 (I knew where the other one was but was too tired). The snow was up to our thighs in some places and we all nearly got hypothermia waiting in the back of the truck to be transported back to base.



The medics checked us out after each event to prevent serious injury. It was a this point when they tried to pull me from the competition because they thought I had frostbite on my toes. I tried to tell them that they were from the 16 mile road march and not from frostbite. They kept an eye on me but let me continue for the last event. This event was the "X-mile run" which consisted of the following (distances are approximate, total was around 9 miles):

1/2 mile run with you gas mask on

Log cutting. We then had to carry a log for


1/4 mile sand bag carry. Each competitor carried two 40 lbs sandbags.

Pound four pickets (used to build barb wire fences)


1/2 mile water can carry. Each competitor carried two 5 gallon water cans.

3/4 mile Fireman carry. This was where only one competitor was allowed to carry a 180 lbs dummy. This was by far the worst of all the events and probably the hardest thing I've ever done. It took us almost 45 minutes to complete this one event. We were the two smallest, and youngest competitors and this event is where the other teams left us behind.

1/4 mile Bangalore crate carry

Going to the last event the Brigade Commander and Command Sergent Major ran with us


And finally the 100 meter tire flip


Finish line


Shaking the Brigade Commander's hand, boy do I look happy or what?


My teammate had to be carried off and treated for exhaustion.



Even though we finished last in the final event, we still managed to place third overall. I thought this was pretty good considering our lack of experience and the fact that the two teams ahead of us were all officers who are Ranger and Sapper tabbed, have deployed, and serve in Combat Engineer units (we are in a construction battalion).



Here are some articles about the competition:
General Competition
My team

This is an Army produced news clip that has a narrator with a funny voice