Sapper Stakes will take place at Fort McCoy, Wis., from May 5-8 to select the three best combat engineer teams in the Army Reserve.
Sapper Stakes events have been held before, but never of this size and at this command level in the Reserve.
The 416th Theater Engineer Command, headquartered in Darien, Ill., and the 412th TEC, headquartered in Vicksburg, Miss., are responsible for all of the engineer Soldiers in the Army Reserve, and a combined total of 26,000 Soldiers of various job specialties across the continental U.S.
Approximately 26 teams are expected, with five to seven members each, representing six brigades.
The participating Soldiers are assigned to mobility augmentation companies, route clearance companies, area clearance platoons and engineer battalion headquarters. Sapper Stakes focuses on team cohesion while testing mental and physical stamina of each team member, as well as their tactical and technical skills.
The goal is to include National Guard and Active Duty teams in the future and run the competition annually.
Each team will be tested in the area of physical fitness, ruck marching, knot tying, demolition, hasty road crater, landing zone, in-stride breaching, improvised explosive investigation, reconnaissance, weapon assembly, casualty evacuation, Army warrior skills and rifle marksmanship.
