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QRF Challenge tests Soldiers and Airmen at FOB Warrior

By Spc. Jason Jordan, 1-10th Mtn. Div., PAO

Soldiers with the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, take a breather during the quarter-mile casualty litter lane in the Quick Reaction Force challenge held at Forward Operating Base Warrior, Kirkuk, Iraq, April 27. The teams competed in a four-event competition designed to simulate situations a QRF team might encounter in combat. The four events were a one-mile race to the perimeter in full combat gear, a live-fire stress shoot, a quarter-mile casualty litter evacuation and a 500 feet armored vehicle push. (U.S. Army Photo by Spc. Jason Jordan, 1-10th Mtn. Div. PAO)

Kirkuk, Iraq - The enemy has launched an attack on Forward Operating Base Warrior. The Quick Reactionary Forces move into a defensive posture, giving medical aid to the injured. While the battle rages, they react accordingly, risking their own lives to transport casualties by litter and move armored vehicles to strategic locations, reacting to various scenarios as they occur.

This was the script given to 20 competing teams comprised of Soldiers and Airmen stationed at FOB Warrior, during the QRF Challenge held April 27, in Kirkuk, Iraq. The teams competed against each other testing their skills in the harsh elements of the desert during simulated combat conditions. The heat, which was peaking into the 100s, was enough to test the endurance of the five-man teams, in four separate events, as they vied for the best times. The lanes consisted of a one-mile race to the perimeter in full combat gear, a live-fire stress shoot, a quarter-mile casualty litter evacuation and a 500 feet armored vehicle push.

A cartridge is ejected from a rifle being used by a Soldier with the 1st Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, during a Quick Reaction Force Challenge competition held at Forward Operating Base Warrior in Kirkuk, April 27. Five-man teams competed in a four-event competition designed to simulate situations a QRF team might encounter in combat. The four events were a one-mile race to the perimeter in full combat gear, a live-fire stress shoot, a quarter-mile casualty litter evacuation and a 500 feet armored vehicle push. (U.S. Army Photo by Spc. Jason Jordan, 1-10th Mtn. Div. PAO)

"I didn't want to lean too heavily towards the Air Force or the Army," said 1st Sgt. Daniel Kelch, Company A, 1st Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, commenting on trying to be fair as the event's director. "Both military branches have QRF teams. We created situations that both may face in real-life."

Medics manned aid stations along the route, and there were prepared to provide necessary assistance to the participants with food, ice and water.

The competitors were given little time to catch their breath between events and had to remain in full combat gear for the entire challenge.

Soldiers with the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, push an armored military vehicle 500 feet during a Quick Reaction Force competition held at Forward Operating Base Warrior, Kirkuk, Iraq, April 27. Five-man teams competed in a four-event competition designed to simulate situations a QRF team might encounter in combat. The four events were a one-mile race to the perimeter in full combat gear, a live-fire stress shoot, a quarter-mile casualty litter evacuation and a 500 feet armored vehicle push. (U.S. Army Photo by Spc. Jason Jordan, 1-10th Mtn. Div. PAO)

"This was probably the most physically demanding competition I have ever participated in," Pfc. Benjamin Langford, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st BCT said. "Completing it required not only utilizing our training, but mental strength of will as well."

The competition may have challenged each individual differently, but it also helped build camaraderie.

Soldiers with 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, begin a one-mile run in full protective gear during the Quick Reaction Force challenge held April 27, at Forward Operating Base Warrior, Kirkuk, Iraq. The 20 five-man teams competed in a four-event competition designed to simulate situations a QRF team might encounter in combat. The four events were a one-mile race to the perimeter in full combat gear, a live-fire stress shoot, a quarter-mile casualty litter evacuation and a 500 feet armored vehicle push. (U.S. Army Photo by Spc. Jason Jordan, 1-10th Mtn. Div. PAO)

"Combat deployments can become very stressful and monotonous," Kelch said. "We organize such events to help boost morale and allow relationships to grow among comrades, and those things help time pass a little more quickly."

The top three overall winning teams were: 1st place, HHC 1st BSTB's Hellraisers; 2nd place, A Co., 1st BSTB's Dirty Dozen; and in 3rd, the Air Force's 506th ESFS's Avengers. The winners in each separate event were: 1st in the 1-mile combat run, the Air Force's 506th ESFS's Get er done; 1st in the stress shoot, Company A, 1st BSTB's Dominators; 1st in the Casualty Evacuation, 10th BSB's Shurpas; 1st in the M1151 push, Company A, 1st BSTB's Dirty Dozen.