The US military pentathlon team competes in international competition; strengthens relationships | Article

Three medals, a few bumps and bruises, and plenty of stories, NATO’s newest member leaves Finland and returns to the United States.

U.S. Army and Air Force Reserve service members competed at the Inter-Allied Confederation of Reserve Officers Military Competition, or CIOR MILCOMP, June 27-29, 2023, in Helsinki, Finland.

CIOR is the world’s largest and oldest military reserve organization and has the objectives of advising the NATO military community on reserve matters, promoting the role and importance of reserve forces at NATO and national level, and promoting the professional development of reserve officers. their website. It is open to all reserve components for both NCO and officer, and each year has a theme. This year, reliability and preparation are important.

“MILCOMP is very important because we improve our military capabilities,” said Maj. Sterling Broadhead, of Layton, Utah, and a seven-year competition veteran. “We compete against each other but we support each other and that’s why I love this rivalry.”
Broadhead competed in a multinational team, placing second in the international team category.

“We’re a pretty diverse group; the contestant from Norway is in his 50s, I’m in my 40s and the Dutch guy is in his early 30s, so we had a wide range of ages and backgrounds.” said Broadhead, who assumed the role of US joint officer in charge. “I’ve done all the categories from beginner to international level and it’s hard to decide which years are better than others because they’re all unique, but I wouldn’t trade that experience.”

CIOR MILCOMP dates back to 1957 and is a three-day military team pentathlon consisting of pistol and rifle shooting, an obstacle course, all-purpose swimming (while wearing the host country’s camouflage uniform) and orienteering with additional tasks including range estimation. Map reading and grenade throwing in teams of three. This year, 100 soldiers from 10 NATO and Partner for Peace countries competed.

“Our team met for the first time about seven or eight weeks ago,” said Sgt. Conner Williams is an Army Reserve military police officer with the 800th Military Police Company and a first-time competitor. “Everyone on my team is either former or current law, so we had a pretty good dynamic.”

Williams’ background contributed to some of the events in the competition, but he said that wasn’t the highlight of his experience.

“My favorite event was shooting at the host country’s guns,” said Williams, whose team was called the Flying Pigs. “One of the memories I will take away from this is meeting new people from around the world.”

Despite mild illness, jet lag, and most people having seen NATO’s obstacle course, Team USA had many successes throughout the competition, including a second-place finish in the experienced category as well as a team member on the winning international team. A week before the competition for the first time in Sweden.

“Training at Fort Dix allowed us to get to know each other, then we went to Sweden and learning their perspective and techniques definitely helped us hone our skills,” said first-year competitor and team member 1st Lt. Brianna Mirmina. captain. “If you’re looking for something to challenge yourself and make you better, then join CIOR and see what it’s all about.”

While 600 reservists and non-commissioned officers representing 34 allied and partner countries were expected, some were excited about Finland hosting this year’s Summer Congress, which includes the Inter-Allied Confederation of Medical Reserve Officers, the Inter-Allied Confederation of Reserve Non-Commissioned Officers, and the Military Competition event. , Young Reserve Officers Workshop and CIOR Symposium.

“As a Partner for Peace country, we started focusing on this in 2019,” said Capt. Saku Liehu of Finland and 2023 MILCOMP director. “It is an honor for me to be here in three months as a member of NATO and we have very good relations as always.”

Organizing such events requires time and group work.

“Last spring, we put out information that we needed people to come here and help us, and we accepted 58 reserve officer volunteers from the federation,” said Liehu, a former competitor himself. “I couldn’t have imagined it would go this well.”