That is because Capt. Jason Winklemann and 2nd Lt. Joel Groves took 25 other U.S. Army teams to task in Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., earlier this month to win the Best Sapper Competition.
“As combat engineers, our forte is blowing things up,” Winklemann said. “We are experts in demolition. That’s what combat engineers do.”
The competition is a grueling 50-plus hours that encompasses stamina, and soldier skills such as marksmanship, mine identification and land navigation, with the skills that only a combat engineer has.
The Army has hosted this competition for four years and Winklemann has competed in half of those. Until this year, the Sapper champions resided with the 65th Engineer Battalion in Hawaii.
Last year, he and another Army officer competed for the prized cup, but came in second.
This year, Winklemann and the 8th Engineers were not going to settle for second place.
“You can’t just be a strong Sapper, you’ve got to be smart also, in order to be the bast Sapper,” Winklemann said.
So Winklemann tapped Groves, an Army officer fresh out of Sapper School, to be his partner.
Groves, who was commissioned in December 2006, had graduated near the top of his Sapper school class only a few weeks before the competition.
Groves said it is a good feeling to be the rookie and win what amounts to the Super Bowl of Sappers.
“It’s wonderful,” Groves said. “It’s kind of everything I’ve hoped for in the Army. I enjoy the competition and I really enjoy the excitement of being a Sapper. Blowing stuff up is a lot of fun.”
Groves had just completed a regimen of rigorous training that began with Ranger School, shortly after he was commissioned, followed by Sapper School.
“This really showed during Sapper competition because they’re events that I had first-hand knowledge of. I had just done this three weeks ago, so the instructors who were grading us had just taught me how to do this three weeks before,” Groves said.
While Winklemann’s experience and Groves’ familiarity with the newest material may have made this team a winning combination, there were a few rough spots.
“There were a few things I was rusty on,” Winklemann said. “We each had strengths and weaknesses. Part of why we did so well is that we know each other well.”
Groves said he had difficulty during the march and relied on Winklemann to drag him up one hill after another, while Groves pushed Winklemann mentally to finish the competition.
While winning the competition is definitely sweet, the pair will not be able to defend their victory.
They will be deploying to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in the next few months.
Regardless, the unit is very proud of the accomplishments of the two officers and Battalion Commander Lt. Col. David Walker said as much Monday.
“They went up there and did a great job,” he said. “We’re really proud of them.”
