Sapper Stakes | Wisconsin-based team claims second place

Staff Sgt. Daniel Clark, a Reedsburg resident who is a member of the U.S. Army Reserve, participates in the National Sapper Stakes Competition May 5 -8 at Fort McCoy. Since the competition, Clark has been promoted to sergeant first class.

From the Wisconsin State Journal: A Wisconsin-based team earlier this month took second place in a national competition to test skills at locating land mines and working with explosives.

The first National Sapper Stakes Competition took place May 5–8 at Fort McCoy near Sparta. Reedsburg native Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Clark, a member of the U.S. Army Reserve for 18 years, was among the participants.

Hasty Craters | Dodgeville Army unit to compete in Sapper Stakes at Fort McCoy

From the 416th Theater Engineer Command Public Affairs Office just south of the (Wisconsin-Illinois) border:

Seven Army Reserve combat engineers belonging to the 469th Engineer Company, headquartered in Dodgeville, Wis., will compete in the first ever theater-level Sapper Stakes competition in May.
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.

Soldier song and dance at Fort McCoy

From Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office: The stage will be set for 22 soldiers from across the country to entertain the public at Fort McCoy with a 75-minute song and dance production themed "Ready and Resilient."

The free performance is July 11 at 6 p.m. at the Rumpel Fitness Center. Doors open an hour before the show, and seating is on a first-come basis. Please be prepared to show a photo ID when at the main gate.

"Ready and Resilient" is a high-energy live musical production that showcases the talents of active-duty Soldiers selected by audition from throughout the Army. Soldiers first, they are artists who have a passion for music, dance and performing, with specialties ranging from information technology to combat medicine. The show is assembled and rehearsed five weeks for a four-month tour of military installations across the nation.

"Every American, military-affiliated or not, will be able to see themselves in the show," said Army Soldier Show Artistic Director Victor Hurtado. "The fact that the show is entertaining someone is already taking them away (from their mindset), but the messaging is going to inspire. We know they are coming to be entertained, but further, the content in the show is designed to hopefully be a time-released pool of inspiration."

For more information about the show, please call 877-864-4969 or visit www.mccoymwr.com.

PHOTO CAPTION: A performance scene from the 2013 U.S. Army Soldier Show (U.S. Army photograph)