 We spent a week with two tank crews from Charlie 164 armor, so I think they've done an amazing job I am proud of those guys very proud Just getting ready preparing for the shot to get a shot to go to the southern cup I have learned probably more in these last few weeks than in the other training exercises. I've done combined We met team cannon Arke and team Count Dracula, and they went head-to-head for six weeks I'm getting the chance to represent an entire division I'm really grateful for the opportunity It's really humbling Competition brings out excellence. That's driving us. We're driving them and it's all in the spirit of competition to make a better team These guys want to be the best. I'm ready. I've been waiting for this moment But in the end, one team gets to go to the Sullivan Cup They've wrapped their head around this. We're getting an opportunity here to show that we are the best in the world You get to play on the big boy platform This is the Super Bowl of Tanks They want this This isn't your mama's table six qualification And this is a this is a test to get after the best tank crew in the United States Army We're gonna push everybody to limits We're gonna make it physically demanding We're gonna test your your cognitive skills when you get out on the sticks exercises to make sure you know How to do the basic functions it takes to be a tanker and then we're gonna make sure you can come out of here and hit Which is shoot at Certain Fauntler Roy's crew was picked to represent the third ID The way the Sullivan Cup works is you show up the issue you a tank and you use it to compete in a series of events for points So the only points you care about are to get into the top four after that Nobody cares about your points because the shootoff is the only thing that matters the shootoff determines who is the Sullivan Cup? So take us through the competition briefly the the different stations what they do and how to get to that last phase Well first they have competition which they called day zero was Sunday that was the armor cleaning proficiency test It starts off with ammunition lift That to get a hundred points need to do it 45 times. I only can do it 36 Trackbox shuffles 20 meters you take 10 track box and move them back and forth Then you have a cable drag for 15 meters You pick you drag the cable pick it up and you just run back Then you have a road wheel roll for 240 meters basically a baseball diamond and you have you finish off with a one-mile run And they posted the second best crew score. So we finished in second place The mounted sticks lane comprised of a land navigation course and there were five stations within the land navigation course The time begins now The first station was their start point and that was prepared for combat They prepped their vehicle Got ready and then they moved out and OC followed them And then things got interesting their tank broke down Basically started our movement once we got up here to this intersection We was doing little tactical policies to make sure our bearings were good and a Lot of times with sometimes with certain problems that the tank may run into it'll self-aboard itself pretty much like a I guess Self-preservation if you will Essentially it was the tanks check engine light coming on. Yeah, this is where the fault showed up again. It's not showing up So they did some troubleshooting I think we good And eventually they had to pull over and just wait for another tank These aren't their tanks that literally jumped on this tank a couple of hours ago So tanks break down. That is what it is They eventually to transfer all their gear and they got back to work They dealt with the little three-hour hiccup and then they moved on they got to their next station Which was maintenance They had to break and replace a two-block section of track They got beat on time on that one. They still got 60 points because they're doing pretty well They found all the rest of their land nav points and it it got really late It was about 20 hundred 20 30 by the time they got to that the medical sticks And he's showing no signs of life and they executed got 88 points on that did really well We went uh We went up to station five which is again at the containment area And they did vehicle id and that was pretty rough But they kicked the four station right in the seat It was a occupy a bp did really well and they got 100 points on their land nav as well So the end of the day they had 811 out of a thousand points and going into the gunnery They were in 10th place out of 16 crews The digital multi-purpose range complex at fort benning is impressive and it'll test any tanker This is not like any other range that i've ever been on. It is not a bowling alley. It is not flat terrain And so it's forcing these crews and it forces our future leaders to completely expand everything that that they know about tank gunnery Gunnery is one of the crew's strengths and this is where all that degraded training at fort steward Hopefully would pay off Right now and they'll do the pc tank rpg team degraded mode and then they'll do their call for fire Who you'll have coming up right now as you see approaching the bp is 164 armor So if we have any 164 armor fans right here, there you go your chance to cheer for I overheard you um talking about 164 what was it you said about that They had they were having mechanical issues. They took them back to the room. Nothing they could fix out there So our crews out there, um, they got one round off and now they've had a malfunction What we don't know is is uh, is if they're going to be given an alibi Which means if it was a fault that was uh, something they couldn't prevent They'll give them an alibi and this won't count against them if it's something that they they caused It it counts against them. So not a great start to the gunnery But it's it's what happens It's it's part of being a tanker and I think that you know what they learn through all the training Is that you've got to be able to adapt this so we're waiting to find out what's going to happen What if I came out I'd swear this was yet another setback But our guys put their time to good use to make sure they were ready if they get another shot Yeah, that mound is gone Try it again So we got good news today our team found out they got an alibi And that means that when the round got stuck in the breach It's determined that it wasn't the crew's fault So that mean they got to start fresh and they went out and they shot really well Took second place on all the teams and that's kind of like breathe the new life into them So we're here now at 10 o'clock and our crew's actually out on the range doing a night fire We also heard you guys took second in the day run Second highest score in the day run. Yeah You did a good run on the night night Uh, it could have been better if I just Trusted him my tc more. I couldn't identified a truck and troop target But he could so It is what it is. I mean I think corona has beaten himself up a little bit. He um They had a their last engagement was uh, they had they fire off some flares to simulate that they're being fired on And and he he didn't see him They're in it to win it and they're they're working through the The challenges, you know tomorrow's the last day to give it their all and See where the cards lay after that Think think about the crew that wins this thing when then when they go home and they turn around and say, you know what? We won this and this is how we did it no way No, no, no, they're in third place, man Dad they came up from third from tenth to third but they the They got second best last night wow Back on the map Urgent good news, man. Yes. We're here. Yeah So today you just got to go do what you do three got three engagements Three engagements to solidify our position in the top four and uh It's game one. I know you're excited, but but you know having followed you guys here I'm going into the final gunnery. They were confident. They were focused You know barring any major malfunction. They should make the top four Looking at that. I don't have any affirmative things to say that why you miss those targets If you're good at reading facial expressions, their faces speak volumes Four seconds when you moved up to you engage getting a doubtful left Phrases like doubtful left and over or short are not what a tanker wants to hear in an aar They got it over on target three. It means they missed And that's out of a possible 300 all right, I'm going to put you guys on a little break Sergeant first-class matt nigran delivered the news with as much encouragement as he could The wait now was to see if they'd go home Sooner mess no news is good news right now We're waiting on two more crews to finish their aars and the final scores to come in To notify you on the points. That's how tight this competition is getting Where's the field looking like? I can't say I just can tell you no news right now is good news because that means We're not sending you. We're not sending out the door right now all right, um We are back at the hotel and we are waiting for news. Uh today was a crazy day. It was a roller coaster ride When we arrived this morning Our guys that we knew were in 10th place And it's actually on the way out that we were checking the the facebook site and found out that because of their night gunnery They had moved to third place So the last phase was today and that was their last day gunnery And um, they did not do well. So You know, we're just we're waiting to hear You know whether they make the top four because the top four is where they need to be To be able to compete in the gunnery tomorrow and uh, and if we don't hear tonight, then you know, we'll just find out on wait a minute They said they might text us tonight. So Give me a sec This could be it I think everybody who is still in the army has an obligation to make sure that we continue to be adaptive Uh and innovative and continue to To strive for excellence So if we can instill that in our junior ranks and the soldiers that are coming through this competition Think about that 16 crews that now can go home to 16 different places and talk about what it takes to be the best here So there was a tie for fourth place, which means five crews went to the shoot-off and our guys They missed it by one shot I have a better picture of exactly what we need to do to truly become More proficient on the crewman We're a bad tanker. I learned I learned that we're better than we thought we were Really this competition is about seeding excellence or planting the seeds of excellence in the tank community A great honor to come down here and compete for the best and I mean I'll be back in two years. I'm gonna win in two years. That's that's what i'm taking out of his motivation to come back It's a great experience. I mean in my eyes. It's a once in a lifetime thing I mean it's not every day that you're gonna go somewhere and have a best tank competition And your name just so happened to come pop up Any team that goes is exposed to the training and all these other great tank crews in the competition That make them better tankers as a whole Yeah, you have a winner, but everybody that comes is better for it. It helped our resilience a lot overall They helped my resilience a lot. I'm I'm I'm a pretty resilient person before this but this made it this made me even stronger with this competition I was honored to be in a position to give the best of the best to run for the money I was honored to be in a position where the best of the best were like, oh man We got to watch out for those guys from third id Can you tell stories like this? You always hope your team's gonna win and our guys didn't But I wouldn't have it any other way because what we saw is the level of resiliency and that these guys No matter what they kept running hard after their goal. I mean, that's what it's about. It's about not quitting It's about perseverance and they showed us the best of that