Accepting the challenge: battling below-average temperatures and each other, a wide variety of service members came together to make the 2003 Military Wilderness challenge a success

All Hands, March, 2004 by Charles L. Ludwig

bzzzzz!!!!

The maddening sound of an alarm clock traditionally kicks off early-morning routines--a shower, a run to school with the kids or maybe an exercise session before heading off to a day at work.

But a mountain run in excess of six miles followed by a lengthy whitewater rafting race is anything but routine. Kick in an extensive mountain biking expedition followed by a half-marathon worth of hiking through the Appalachian Mountains, and now you have a true challenge--a wilderness challenge.

In early October, an assortment of Sailors came together in a precipitously rocky region of West Virginia for the Military Wilderness Challenge, a Navy Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR)-sponsored event in and around Fayetteville, W.Va.

The 2003 event, its third year of existence, featured 30 active-duty military teams from the Navy, Air Force, Army and Marine Corps, each composed of three men and one woman. Once in Fayetteville, the teams competed in six different events aimed at showcasing their abilities in difficult situations, according to event coordinator Michael Bond.

"We were extremely excited about the previous [challenges], and I'm glad it's become one that commands are hungry to compete in to earn bragging rights for the title," Bond said. "It's not an easy competition, so the winning team is the best of the best in outdoor recreation and physical endurance."

Teams showed off their endurance early and often in the three day event, as iron men and women competed in six grueling events, including an eight kilometer run through mountainous terrain, a 14-mile forced-hike mountain trek and a 10-mile nmuntain bike race. The athletes also tested their patience and stamina with a half-mile swim, a 13-mile whitewater raft race and a seven-mile inflatable kayak "duckie" race.

The events were broken up into two days of competition, with the mountain run starting the contest's first day. After about an hour break, one member of each team participated in the half-mile swim, which led directly into the rafting race. The second day proved to be the real endurance test, as teams pounded out the mountain biking, "duckie" and forced-hike events in succession.

With more than 50 total miles being covered in the challenge, the event proved to be a truly taxing endeavor for most.

"This is a good event, but it can be pretty difficult, especially toward the end," said first-time competitor Operations Specialist 1st Class Frank Joseph of the Commander, 2nd Fleet team. "We're pretty beat down from everything so far. It's been pretty rough. I'm definitely feeling it."

To fit the full schedule in on the second day, teams had to be lined up at the mountain bike starting line well before sunrise. That's when most needed the sound of that alarm clock to get them going.

"I wasn't looking forward to waking up that early," said Aviation Machinist's Mate 2nd Class Anthony Michalski, of the HC-2 Norfolk team. "We all knew it was coming, but after that first day of competition, I was fearing the alarm dock. I think everyone was."

According to Joseph, a West Virginia-native who grew up about 45 miles from Fayetteville, the early wake-up actually helped some. "I didn't mind it too much," he said. "It was tough like it always is at first, but in the end, it didn't really matter. A lot of us were able to use it as an advantage, since we PT in the early mornings."

Early-morning wake up times and long, time-consuming races were not the only obstacles facing the military teams. Weather also played a major factor in this year's event. Entrants were doused with periodic rain showers that made many of the event's wilderness paths extremely slick.

And if running up and down the rocky terrain wasn't arduous enough, the temperature hovered at about 40 degrees--about 15 to 20 degrees below Fayetteville's average for that time of year.

The chilly condition wreaked havoc on many of the competition's squads.

"The cold weather almost scared us off when we got here," said Hull Technician 2nd Class Scott Wise, a member of Assault Craft Unit 4. "It has a big effect on us, especially with the early-morning runs and the water events. The water temperature only gets colder during weather like this."

These varying factors added up to two days of tierce inter-service competition, with Airmen, Soldiers and Marines challenging Sailors for the top spots in each event.

"Competition was really stiff this year, both within the Navy and between the other services," said Chief Aviation Machinist's Mate Gregg Spickel, one of Michalski's teammates from HC-2 Norfolk. "It's absolutely intense. I mean, think about it. Navy-Marine Corps, the camaraderie is good between us, but the competition is always great. We all want to win--there's no doubt about that."

That intensity was seen throughout the competition, but competitors also needed to use a little bit of inter-service teamwork to excel in the water-rafting race. In the race, two teams from different services were placed together in a raft with a local rafting guide. The two teams were urged to work together from the beginning of the competition, when they had to wade out to the center of the river and pull in a swimmer who had just completed the half-mile swim. Once in the raft, the swimmer became part of the team and helped to paddle the squad along their 13-mile path, which included 35 significant rapids.