MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. -- Marine Corps Base Quantico held its first ever basewide field meet March 21, 2014, at Butler Stadium. More than 15 teams represented the different units and sections throughout the base, competing in multiple different events.
Training and Education Co. took the early lead, winning the first event, the maneuver under fire section of the combat fitness test when their five representatives had the lowest total time. In second and third place were Weapons Training Bn. and Marine Corps Embassy Security Group, respectively.
The second event was the “Dizzy Izzy” where competitors would run from a starting point to a baseball bat about 20 yards away, put their forehead to the knob of the bat and the barrel on the ground and spin around 10 times. Once they completed their rotations, and were thoroughly dizzy, they would run back to their team so the next competitor could go.
While it wasn’t nearly as physically demanding as the maneuver under fire, it made everyone laugh at the difficulty the competitors were having just staying on their feet.
Several competitors fell from being so dizzy and a few ran sideways out of the playing field, and Service Co. won the event with MSG in second and TECO in third.
Overall TECO held the lead with eight points, followed by MSG with seven and Service Co. with five.
The next event was the vehicle pull. Each team had 10 representatives pull a Humvee as fast as they could across a parking lot. The teams showed off their strength during this event and made the pulls seem easy.
“I think next time we should have a 7-ton pull instead of these HMMWVs,” said Col. Robin Gallant, the commanding officer for H&S Bn.
Other competitions included a relay race where teams had to complete a set number of laps around the track, push-ups, squats and pull-ups. Another event was a weapons disassembly and reassembly race where the competitors broke down, rebuilt and function checked an M240B.
The final event was a tug-of-war that was originally supposed to happen in the middle of the field, but Gallant saw a muddy area a little away from the field and suggested the competition move over there.
Going into the tug-of-war, Weapons Training Bn. was in the lead with 14 points, TECO was in second with 12 points, and MSG was in third with 11 points.
The teams struggled against each other and tried to stay on their feet on the muddy foot-churned ground.
After several slips and falls in the mud, one team stood victorious. Service Co. won in the final round against Security Bn. earning 10 points putting them ahead of WTBn. by one point.
After the event, the teams gathered around the trophies for the award ceremony where Col. David Maxwell, the base commander, presented Service Co. with the three trophies for the day. One will be kept in the Headquarters and Service Bn. building, one in the Barber Activity Center and one to be kept in the Service Co. main office.
“We had a great time today,” said Staff Sgt. Evelyn Herring, the battalion Uniform Victim Advocate and a leader in Service Co. “I was surprised we won the tug-of-war but that doesn’t make me any less proud.”
The day went relatively smooth, with the only real complaint being the easier-than-expected Humvee pull. Capt. Ross Garnett, the H&S Bn. supply and safety officer, did his best to make sure all the angles were covered.
“We started planning this about two months ago,” said Garnett. “Our goal was to make the event run seamlessly and, for the most part, we succeeded. When we do this again, we will have all the information we learned today and, during our planning stages, that will help us make the next field meet, that much better.”
At the conclusion of the contest, third place was held by MSG, in second was Weapons Training Bn.