1-23 Inf. completes 25-mile march

By Matt Smith, Northwest Guardian

In a march seven months in the works, nearly 400 Soldiers of 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment took to the woods across Railroad Avenue in formation the evening of July 10 for a 25-mile foot march, returning 11 hours later with blisters on their feet and smiles on their faces.

The smiles definitely did not stem from forgoing a night’s worth of sleep in their own beds; they were more smiles of completion and accomplishment.

“We were motivated when we first started out, but once we got started it was kind of sad,” said A Company’s Spc. Brian Reiley, “but as soon as you see the end you get kind of happy… once you get closer and closer, you start feeling happy about yourself and you feel great.”

Battalion commander Lt. Col. Chuck Hodges informed his Soldiers in January of his intent to hold this march and did what was necessary to prepare them to accomplish the feat.

“We had a training methodology to get us there,” said Hodges. “Normally, the (Expert Infantryman Badge) 12-mile road march is probably the most the guys are going to do.”

Hodges said the toughening up of his Soldiers, both physically and mentally, and getting a chance to work together as a battalion were the main reasons behind the demanding march.

“There’s no better venue to do that in than in a 25-mile foot march in full kit,” he said. “Also it’s the camaraderie and (building) esprit de corps because common suffering builds teams and there’s no way around it. I’ll tell you right now, right around mile 23 I was saying to myself ‘what the heck? Who planned this damn thing?’ My fun meter was (done at) about mile 23.”

Hodges said he was “very pleased” with his Soldiers and that they did “an outstanding job.” Only 17 of the 371 Soldiers who began the march were unable to finish, most succumbing to twisted knees and ankles. One Soldier was pulled from formation due to overheating.

Many Soldiers held reservations about what a 25-mile march would be like, but were full of pride for themselves and their fellow Soldiers afterwards.

“Coming into it, I was a bit skeptical, 25 is a big number,” said Pvt. 2 Joe Pisciola of 3rd Platoon, B Co., “but we just worked as a platoon and got it done. The first 10 miles were good, but around mile 20 it got pretty grueling. This is definitely the hardest thing I’ve done in the Army.”

Headquarters and Headquarters Company’s Spc. Andrew Neblock shared Pisciola’s uncertainty heading into the march.

“I have a case of tender feet so I was afraid my feet were going to blister pretty fast,” he said, “so I thought this was going to be a tiring process the whole way, but they actually weren’t.

“I made it up to about the last five miles and once I got there my feet started hurting, but I was able to pull it in to the end.”

Because this was a tactical march, opportunities for conversation were held to a minimum. But Neblock said they were able to give proper infantry encouragement at times.

“We told jokes to each other,” he said. “We’re in infantry, so we kind of like to make fun of each other a little bit.”

Corporal Nicholas Myers of C Co. said the march reminded him of 3rd Brigade’s light infantry past.

“We drive Strykers, but we were originally a light unit so it’s kind of a getting-back-to-your-roots thing,” he said. “But it also helps us when we have to get to places the vehicles can’t go. The mission always comes first so it has to get done.”

As big a feat as it was for the battalion to complete the brutal march, Hodges said it’s just part of his long term plan to prepare his Soldiers for combat.

“It’s a building block process. This is part of the physical aspects of it all and then there’s all the other training aspect, the tactical training and everything else we’ve got to go through,” he said. “I have my commander’s philosophy of training objectives I want to get at and one of them is mentally and physically tough Soldiers. Then there’s Arabic speaking capability, Stryker battle drills and so forth. This is just one aspect of the overall training priorities that we have.”