Halloween Adventure Race

Early on a dark and cool morning at Camp Redleg in the United Arab Emirates, 1-14

FAR released its Soldiers on a Halloween-themed Adventure Race.

This was the second installment of the 1-14 FAR Adventure race in UAE which featured

costumes, competitions, thrills, and watery chills. Teams participated from the United States,

United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.

“The Adventure Race is one of those things when you think about it ahead of time you

say “Wow, this is going to suck”, 2LT Todd Robbins of Bravo Battery said, “But when you

actually get started you realize how fun it really is, and truly begin to enjoy the competition”.

Events were Halloween themed, including a haunted HMMWV push, a memory game

with zombie and jack-o-lantern tiles, and a crawl through the mud obstacle course where the

British blasted participants with high pressured water hoses. Each event tested physicality,

endurance, patience, and intelligence all at once. One event was a marksmanship competition,

where team members shot the “heads of zombies”, signified by balloons that simulated the

zombie heads.

“I found it funny that the foreign teams finished the shooting event first; most had never

seen an M16 rifle before,” said SPC Casey Luna-Ramirez of HHB’s medical section.

Several participants from the American camp wore costumes during the competition

including: Spiderman, Batman, Superman, “hippies”, the Joker, Tomb Raider, and a Spartan

Warrior. The participants showed true dedication to the Halloween theme by completing each

event in costume.

SPC Hollis Wright, of 578 FSC, introduced his self proclaimed “Red Man” suit for the

Adventure Race.

“Morph suits, or all spandex suits, are the way to go,” said SPC Wright, who wore a full

body, red spandex suit during the Adventure Race. “It was surprisingly elastic and allowed great

movement” said Wright who stands 6 feet 7 inches tall and obviously stood out in the suit.

“The British kept calling me Spiderman, even though I clearly wasn’t him,” SPC Wright

said.

Much to the Americans dismay, the British Royal Engineers placed first overall in the

competition. The Royal Engineers, the equivalent to Sappers in the U.S. Army, also won the

Fourth of July Adventure Race. Their wit and strategy have gone unmatched thus far but 2LT

Robbins’ team placed only 54 seconds behind the Royal Engineers. The winning team received

a Halloween-inspired trophy made by CPL Daniel Villalba and SPC Andrew Cochrane, both of

578 Forward Support Company.

“It felt great to be the first American team to finish, and barely lose, to an elite team of

British Royal Engineers,” said 2LT Robbins, whose team placed second. “We had a great mix of

age on our team; the youngest being 22 and the oldest being our First Sergeant, Michael

McLaughlin, at 40”.

“The British had a coed team, with two males and two females on it, which finished third

overall. They finished only a minute behind us,” said 2LT Christopher Robbins, of Bravo

battery.

SGT Maben participated on the event’s only all-female team, dubbed “Flower Power”.

Team “Flower Power” was composed of 2LT Caroline Bell, SFC Amy Larsen, SGT Kaley

Maben, and SPC Robbyn Atkins. They had the unique distinction of finishing both last and first

in the same race: last over all, and first in the all-women’s division.

“This was the first race that I’ve placed both first and last. I run 5ks and marathons, but

never accomplished that,” said SFC Amy Larsen from the S6 section in HHB.

Team “Flower Power” received brand new toilet brushes as a gag gift for completing the

race..

“I going to proudly hang the brush on my wall in the office when we get home,” SFC

Larsen said.

“The race was fun and a morale booster,” said SGT Kaley Maben, an HHB Medic. “We

are ready to go home to our Families and not see dirt, but this was a great opportunity to do

something exciting and different before we all leave”.

The Halloween Adventure Race is one of the last major international events 1-14 FAR

will participate in while deployed in the UAE. Other memorable events included the Fourth of

July Adventure Race and the Ramadan Sports Carnival. 1-14 is set to return to Ft. Sill at the

beginning of 2014.

Written by: 1LT Brian Norman

Edited by: 1LT Anthony Paris, Jr.

Submitted on: 09 NOV 13