Troops endure mud, grueling tasks
to earn right to wear cavalry spurs
By Rick Scavetta,
Stars and Stripes
Rick Scavetta / Stars and
Stripes
Staff Sgt. Jason Desjardins, right, coaches a mud-covered Pfc. Michael Yochim, 18, through
a 15-mile road march in Friedberg, Germany. |
FRIEDBERG, Germany — Midway through a 15-mile road march, Pfc.
Michael Yochim rolled into a drainage ditch along the road, covered with mud and about to
quit his chance at earning cavalry spurs.
At 18, Yochim is the youngest soldier in the 1st Brigade, 1st Armored
Division’s Brigade Reconnaissance Troop, a cavalry scout unit sponsoring a three-day
“Spur Ride” at Ray Barracks.
As rain pelted clods of dried mud on his face, the Louisiana native
smiled as fellow troopers cheered him on.
“It’s tough; I feel like giving up,” Yochim said.
“But everyone is motivating me.”
Wearing a black Stetson cowboy hat and shiny silver spurs,
Yochim’s supervisor, Staff Sgt. Jason Desjardins, 31, of Syracuse, N.Y., knelt beside
the young troop.
“In a while, it will be over, and you can say you got the job
done,” Desjardins said.
The competition, which ran Tuesday through Thursday, combines
physical training, mental challenges and a land navigation course where spur holders
tested teams of soldiers on military tasks at eight different sites.
Survivors earn the right to wear spurs on their combat boots on
special occasions. Spur rides date back to the horse-mounted cavalry, when Army-supplied
spurs were a precious commodity, said Capt. Richard Mullins, 31.
“They didn’t have enough spurs, so they would hold a
competition and give them to their seasoned soldiers,” Mullins said.
Derek Splattstoesser / Courtesy of
U.S. Army
"Spur maggots" from the 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division, Brigade
Reconnaissance Troop, completed the two-day competition with a roll in the mud. |
Although Mullins is a troop officer, during the competition he was
nicknamed “spur maggot,” the title for soldiers trying to earn spurs.
“It’s great for camaraderie within the troop,” Mullins
said. “Everyone suffers to achieve a goal.”
Competition began Tuesday with a physical fitness test, where troops
must earn scores of 270 or better out of a perfect 300. To qualify for the event, soldiers
must also certify expert on their weapons, write a two-page essay on U.S. cavalry history,
and complete two major field problems.
Well before sunrise Wednesday, spur-wearing noncommissioned officers
woke 14 cavalry scouts who made the cut from the original 27 contestants for a brutal
physical training session.
The troopers donned combat gear and full rucksacks for inspections.
Testers would gig the soldiers for nonregulation items — often
planted on the soldiers for effect. A gig meant a trip into a soupy mud pit for more
exercise, Staff Sgt. Jason Burch said.
“It’s not hard, but it’s a mental thing,” Burch
said.
“They won’t quit because it’s their pride.”
Regardless of any pride, at least two mud-caked soldiers dropped
their packs, exhausted, within the first hour of the subsequent 15-mile road march to the
Friedberg Training Area.
Once there, soldiers could “buy” a map if they agreed to
carry an extra sandbag in their gear.
Navigating their way to eight testing sites, troops are tested on
camouflage, weapons and map reading. One station pushed mental limits as the teams acted
out a play based on cavalry history, Burch said.
Those who complete all the tasks will be awarded their spurs in a
ceremony at the end of the month.
With that in mind, Yochim lifted his mud-covered pack and headed back
on the trail. He watched fellow troopers earn their spurs last November during the
unit’s Kosovo rotation.
“It’s a chance to smoke the hell out of us,” Yochim
said.
“I want to be a part of that tradition.”
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