J u llyy 2 201 011
V OL.. 7 I SSU E 3 VOL
the gsdf wins inaugural tag defender cup The GSDF team was represented by Soldiers throughout GSDF units and included SFC Chris Brierley 57/76, CPL Richard Jones MED/76, SSG Robert Damaschke 911/76, SSG John Derucki 911/76, CPL Chris Alasa REC/HQ, PFC James Russell 2/1, SSG Jay Tavares 2/1, PV2 Jamison Chambers 3/1, SGT Bill Weeks 3/1, SGT Eric Horne 3/1, 1SG Jeff Ulmer MED/76 and SFC Wade Price HHC/1, the team coach.
Photo by CSM Richard Parmenter
CLAY NATIONAL GUARD CENTER, Marietta, GA., June 29, 2011 - In the honored military tradition of internal competition, this year marked the Inaugural TAG Defender Cup Competition between the Georgia National Guard and the Georgia State Defense Force. The GANG and the GSDF are two of the three divisions that make up the Georgia Department of the Defense. The Georgia Air National Guard is the third component; however they did not compete in the event this year. The day started with an early morning speech from Maj. Gen. William T. Nesbitt, Georgia’s Adjutant General. The General addressed the two 10 Soldier teams and supporters to review the eight tough categories of competition which included a relay race, a four-mile ruck march, land navigation course, a push-up and sit-up competition, a Humvee pull, and a tug-a-war event. The competition finished with a grilling from a NCO board testing Soldiers on topics like customs and courtesy, military history and professional appearance.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Braves Game page 4
FOUR! page 7
The first event was the relay race. The GSDF suffered their first defeat of the day, but had a really strong finish by CPL Jones to close the time gap. After the relay, teams were broken up to smaller groups to compete in the other events. SSG Derucki and PFC Russell were shuttled to another location to start the four-mile ruck march and SGT Weeks and PV2 Chambers were sent to the land navigation course. SSG Derucki, a proud 52 year old, and Spc. Jared Echevarria, one of the National Guard Soldiers, took an early lead in the four-mile march. After learning that you need to finish with your partner during the race, Spc. Echevarria dropped back to his teammate. Not knowing this until later, SSG Derucki forged ahead to finish the four-mile march in :54.08. Now knowing that he needs to cross the finish line with his teammate, he turned around and hustled back to PFC Russell and within a few minutes, the two came running up a hill to the finish line. Continued on page 3
CSM James Nelson and CSM Randy Garrett
Band on the 4th
Fort Stewart
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