4th annual best sapper competition.

From 6 through 8 May, the best sappers from across the Regiment converged at Fort Leonard Wood for the 4th Annual Best Sapper Competition. Hosted by the 577th Engineer Battalion and Sapper Leader Course personnel--and sponsored by the Engineer Regiment--the competition gave engineer units across the Army the opportunity to showcase their best Soldiers. The six-phase competition was to determine the best of the best. The Soldiers who stood out here are the best in their units, the best in the Regiment, and some of the best in the Army.

Best Sapper 2008

This year's competition, which was attended by 25 teams from 19 units across the Army, included ranks from private first class through major. The six major events were--

* Phase I: Nonstandard Physical Fitness Test (NSPFT)

* Phase II: Round-Robin

* Phase III: X-Mile Road March

* Phase IV: Sapper Stakes

* Phase V: Land Navigation

* Phase VI: X-Mile Run

Day One

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Phase I--the NSPFT--set the tone for the rest of the competition, determining who was ready and who wasn't. The NSPFT consisted of 5 minutes of push-ups, 5 minutes of situps, and 3 minutes of pullups. Only one member of a two-man team could perform each exercise at a time, but team members could switch throughout the designated time period. The intent was to throw a little strategy into the test. This made the teams think a little more about the event as it progressed. It also added an extra edge of competitiveness to the event. The NSPFT ended with a 3-mile run in interceptor body armor (IBA) and small arms protective insert (SAPI) plates.

After the NSPFT, competitors moved to Phase II--the Round-Robin--with the first subevent being a 150-meter swim with a poncho raft. As the 24 teams exited the water from the poncho raft swim (1 team had dropped out due to an injury), competitors were loaded on trucks again and sent to six different sites on Fort Leonard Wood to continue the event. The additional subevents for the Round-Robin included the stress shoot, grenade range, timber-cutting charge, counterforce charge, military operations on urbanized terrain (MOUT) breach, and urban challenge. The urban challenge, a new subevent this year, tested competitors' ability to shoot, move, and communicate through a simulated Iraqi village that consisted of realistic battle sounds, opposing forces (OPFOR) in traditional clothing, artillery simulators, and burn barrels, as well as live animals.

Scoring for the individual events was designed so that no one event could outweigh any other. That was done so a team wouldn't completely knock themselves out of the competition by doing poorly at one event. The idea was to look at the total Soldier, the most well-rounded sappers.

Day Two

At 0200, the 24 teams began Phase III--the X-Mile Road March. Designated the "X-Mile" because competitors were not told the total distance, the road march served as another hurdle in the competition to set the best sappers apart from their competitors. By the end of the road march, 5 teams had dropped from contention.

At 0730, the remaining 19 teams loaded trucks for their dropoff at the Sapper Stakes (Phase IV) events, which would add 5 more miles to the 16 the teams had already covered. The subevents that made up Sapper Stakes were the weapons assembly, foreign mine identification and improvised explosive device (IED) report, combat lifesaver (CLS) techniques, inert steel cutting, knot tying, Prusik climb and buddy rappel, mine detectors, and the obstacle course and physical endurance course (PEC). Throughout Sapper Stakes, teams moved on foot to each event to total 5 miles.

The biggest subevent of the phase is the Prusik climb and buddy rappel. However, due to safety concerns caused by lightning, this subevent--as well as the obstacle course and PEC course--had to be removed from the competition. With heavy lightning in the area, it was too risky for Soldiers to conduct rappels on the 45-foor Sapper Tower.

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At 2100, the remaining 18 teams began Phase V--the Land Navigation Course. The event added another 6 miles to the 21 miles the teams had already covered and took them right up to 1 hour before the X-Mile Run of Day Three. By the completion of the land navigation course, another team had dropped out.

Day Three

Phase VI of the competition was the X-Mile Run, and only the top 10 teams advanced to this phase. Before starting the run, the competitors were unaware of the total distance or the mystery events on the route. The mystery events this year included carrying items weighing up to 110 pounds for various portions of the 9-mile run. By the completion of the event, the teams would have covered a total of 32 miles during the competition.

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Best Sapper 2009

Overall, the three-day event set the standard for the Best Sapper competitions in the future. This year's competition was considered to be the best one yet; and since it was tied in with ENFORCE, it had a lot more visibility than it had in the past. The 2009 competition is expected to be even better. The Sapper Leader Course cadre are already assessing the 2008 competition and beginning to plan for next year. Although they expect to use some of the same types of events in 2009, they will definitely make some changes to continue to challenge the competitors. The cadre encourage teams to begin preparing now and register as early as possible to make the cut for next year's competition.

First Lieutenant Butler is the executive officer of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 577th Engineer Battalion, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. Commissioned through the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps, he is a graduate of the Sapper Leader Course at Fort Leonard Wood and the Ranger School at Fort Benning, Georgia.

2008 Best Sapper Competition Teams

2LT Jonathan Browning      20th Engineer Battalion
SGT Jack Ramthun           Fort Hood, Texas

SGT Alexander Mack         20th Engineer Battalion
SGT Glenn Taylor           Fort Hood, Texas

SGT Justin Gaiser          20th Engineer Battalion
SPC Patrick Hernandez      Fort Hood, Texas

1LT Douglas Droesch        1st Engineer Battalion
1LT Kyle Metzger           Fort Riley, Kansas

SSG Karen Antonyan         911th Engineer Company
SGT Matthew Rowsey         Fort Belvoir, Virginia

1LT Scott Sann             U.S. Army Dive Company
SSG Travis Kaufman         Fort Eustis, Virginia

CPT Jason Winkelmann       8th Engineer Battalion
2LT Joel Groves            Fort Hood, Texas

SGT Rory Leslie            37th Engineer Battalion
SGT Kurt Nuhfer            Fort Bragg, North Carolina

1LT Scott Eshom            502d Engineer Company
1LT Nicholas Soroka        Hanau, Germany

1LT Nicholas Fox           11th Engineer Company
1LT Kyle Moore             Fort Riley, Kansas

2LT Zachary Taron          3d Brigade Special Troops Battalion
1LT Matthew Davis          Schofield Barracks, Hawaii

CPT Christopher George     554th Engineer Battalion
CPT Josh Eggar             Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri

MAJ Stephen Peterson       1st Engineer Brigade
CPT Daniel Taphorn         Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri

SSG Michael Daley          562d Engineer Company
PFC Ryan Morison           Fort Lewis, Washington

1LT Christopher Clare      4th Engineer Battalion
1LT Tyrel Keplinger        Fort Carson, Colorado

1LT Kristopher Valenti     4th Engineer Battalion
PFC James Conley           Fort Carson, Colorado

1LT Brian Burch            511th Engineer Company
2LT Richard Miller         Fort Campbell, Kentucky

1LT Matthew Textor         65th Engineer Battalion
SGT Dustin Hughes          Schofield Barracks, Hawaii

SFC Michael Behnkendorf    20th Engineer Brigade
1LT Shawn Hogan            Fort Bragg, North Carolina

SSG Timothy Knight         2-8 Cavalry Division, 1BCT
SGT Joshua Morgan          Fort Hood, Texas

1LT Nathan Magee           562d Engineer Company
2LT Kevin Kirby            Fort Lewis, Washington

2LT Chris Williammee       72d Engineer Company
SPC James Wiard            Fort Riley, Kansas

1LT Lucas Hansen           72d Engineer Company
SPC Chris Gomez            Fort Riley, Kansas

2LT John Davis             562d Engineer Company
SSG Keith Novembre         Fort Lewis, Washington

1LT Craig Genung           591st Engineer Company
SGT Justin Claypool        Fort Campbell, Kentucky

2008 Best Sapper Competition Winners 2008

First Place    CPT Jason Winkelmann      8th Engineer Battalion
               2LT Joel Groves           Fort Hood, Texas

Second Place   SFC Michael Behnkendorf   20th Engineer Brigade
               1LT Shawn Hogan           Fort Bragg, North Carolina

Third Place    MAJ Stephen Peterson      1st Engineer Brigade
               CPT Daniel Taphorn        Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri