Spc. Terry Norman, with 58th Signal Battalion based on Fort Buckner, has a good hold from which Marine Cpl. Steven Sanders, with Marine Corps Base on Camp Foster, struggles to escape during a friendly competition in the field outside Gunner's Gym on Camp Foster, Friday. (Cindy Fisher ./ S&S)
Spc. Terry Norman, with 58th Signal Battalion based on Fort Buckner, has a good hold from which Marine Cpl. Steven Sanders, with Marine Corps Base on Camp Foster, struggles to escape during a friendly competition in the field outside Gunner's Gym on Camp Foster, Friday. (Cindy Fisher ./ S&S)
Marine Sgt. Anthony Richard, with Marine Corps Base, and Army Sgt. Peter Gonzalez, with 58th Signal Battalion based at Fort Buckner, roll along the ground struggling for dominance of the groundfight. (Cindy Fisher ./ S&S)
Sgt. Walter Perkins, a Marine Corps martial arts instructor trainer, watches as a Marine and a soldier grapple on Camp Foster as part of a friendly competition. (Cindy Fisher ./ S&S)
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Sweat pouring down their faces, air rushing through their lungs from exertion, the two men struggled for supremacy.
One-on-one, they wrestled as others formed a ring around them shouting encouragement and advice. Knees, elbows and sometimes faces were ground into the dewy morning grass as they grappled. Rolling every which way, first one took control of the fight, then the other.
This was about more than who was stronger or the better fighter. This was about which was the best service as soldiers and Marines grappled in a friendly competition Friday outside Gunner’s Gym on Camp Foster.
The group of about 15 soldiers with 58th Signal Battalion based at Fort Buckner was on Camp Foster completing their annual weeklong basic combat training with a little help from some martial arts-trained Marines, said 1st Sgt. Sharon Neal.
They decided to spice up their last day of training with the competition against a group of about 10 Marines who were completing a green belt Marine Corps Martial Arts Program course.
Working with the soldiers is a good experience, said Marine Sgt. Anthony Richard, one of the Marines helping with the basic combat training.
“We’re a band of brothers,” Richard said, adding that such interservice activity happens all the time, but is usually unnoticed.
“They will take back some of the techniques learned from the Marines” and pass them onto the soldiers who couldn’t get out here this week, he said.
Another bonus was the intensity the interservice competition added to the training, said Marine Sgt. Walter Perkins, a MCMAP instructor trainer.
“Everybody believes their service is the best … they showed a lot of intensity,” he said.
