A U.S. Army tank crew notched a historic win during an armored vehicle contest where teams met from around the world to battle head to head, the Defense Department said.
Four men from the 1st Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 3rd Armored Brigade, 1st Armored Division, led the U.S. to victory at the U.S. Army Europe and Africa International Tank Challenge in Grafenwoehr, Germany, this month, according to a Tuesday release.
The crew’s win marks the first time the U.S. has taken home the top prize at the competition, which first ran from 2016 to 2018 before being paused due to other competitions and the COVID-19 pandemic, the department said.
The challenge included 10 events during which the crews were given marks for their physical and mental fitness, as well as their marksmanship.
Two U.S. teams competed, along with tank crews from Italy, Denmark, Slovenia, and Switzerland.
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“It still hasn’t fully set in for me, yet, that we managed to win this competition in the manner that it happened,” Sgt. 1st Class Kevin Greene, the team’s commander, said in the release. “The other crews that were behind and chasing … are really talented crews, and the fact that we’re the first American team to [win] on this stage is incredible.”
Though the U.S. wasn’t always in the lead during the competition, having stumbled at the outset, they battled hard and came out on top. The team went from fifth to first place in the last hours of the competition, according to the release.
“At 56 hours out, they were middle of the pack, and they could have just glided it out, but that wasn’t their mentality,” said battalion commander Lt. Col. Robert Humphrey. “They [were] going to finish it, and they [were] going to finish it strong.”
Greene attributed the early struggles to the fact that the team had little time to prepare for the challenge physically after just returning from three weeks of field exercises.
The 1st Battalion tank crew — which aside from Greene, includes gunner Sgt. Graham Parker, loader Spc. Donovan Lavery and driver Pfc. Nicolae Lawson — received Army Commendation Medals and initiation into the U.S. Cavalry and Armor Association’s Honorable Order of St. George for armored excellence as a result of their achievement.
Riley Ceder is a reporter at Military Times, where he covers breaking news, criminal justice, investigations, and cyber. He previously worked as an investigative practicum student at The Washington Post, where he contributed to the Abused by the Badge investigation.
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