Teamwork and tons of fun

Five-man 17th Fires Brigade team wins two-day event

By Matt Smith, Northwest Guardian

After what was a futile attempt by 1st Special Forces Group to pull a Medium Tactical Vehicle on the first day of competition of the Pride Week MTV Pull, all other teams decided to push the vehicle down the 100-meter course. The 17th Fires Brigade’s five-man team was able to move the MTV faster than any other group on Tuesday, the final day of competition, and picked up its first win of Pride Week.

“Outstanding,” said 17th Fires Bde.’s Matthew Davis of how it felt to win. “If I was to lose, I would have been mad as all get out. We had great teamwork and great motivation from everybody who helped us out (other Soldiers from the 17th fires brigade). We couldn’t have done it without them and a good knowledgeable coach who pushed us to the limit.”

Of the seven MSCs entering teams, the 17th Fires Bde. proved to be the fastest team each day of competition finishing in exactly 1 minute on the first day and 52 seconds on Day 2.

“We were shooting for under a minute,” said 17th Fires Bde.’s Brien McKin. “You can’t go off of what other people think. You just have to put your heart into it, that’s all you can do.”

Though finishing in fourth place, event organizer Steven Freeman said he was impressed by the effort put forth by the 555th Engineer Brigade, which pushed the heavy MTV four times in two days.

The Triple Nickel finished in 1 minute, 15 seconds on the first day, but ran into some trouble on Day 2’s first push. As they began pushing, the MTV appeared to be creeping along much slower than the day before; 3 minutes, 54 seconds later the 555th crossed the finish line completely exhausted.

Apparently, the MTV hadn’t had enough time to warm up causing it to be nearly unmovable, which was the same problem 1st Special Forces Group ran into on Day 1.

It was determined the Triple Nickel was to get a redo, and on that push it finished in 1 minute, 2 seconds, which tied for third with the 593rd Sustainment Brigade and led to a push-off. The 593rd won the tiebreaker with a time of 59 seconds, while the 555th again finished with in 1:02.

Freeman said Triple Nickel impressed him with its dedication and consistency.

“The effort the 555th put in … they beat their time from the day before and also maintained the same on the last push,” he said.

“That shows right there the teamwork and the heart of getting it done. That’s why I was so adamant with the command of getting some kind of recognition to those guys. I think they deserve it, for what they had to endure.”