WEBVTT

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I'm Sergeant Trace Thompson and I'm

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from Missouri and I'm currently an 11

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Bravo infantry men with the Missouri

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National Guard . So , Best Warrior this

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week has been a lot of mental and

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physical tasks . It's been very fast

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paced and challenging , um , very

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tiring , but it's been a lot of fun and

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I've been around a lot of good people

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the whole week . There's a lot of

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camaraderie among , amongst us , uh ,

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competitors , regardless of the fact

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that we're competing with each other .

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Yeah . So amongst all of those

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competitors , um , regardless of the

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fact that we're competing with each

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other , we've been helping each other

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the whole time . If someone has a

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question or needs help with something ,

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I mean , even such as t to tie before

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we came in here , we've all been

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willing to help each other . Um And

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that's just been great because you

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learn a lot while you're competing that

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way . The event that I found most

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challenging was definitely the first

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four , Mount Rock . Um I know that's

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when we were the most fresh , but I

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think it was the biggest gut check . Um

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I don't think anyone was expecting the

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route in the mountains to be that big

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of a factor into the rock . But , uh ,

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I'd say that was the hardest event for

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me so far . I think it was just that

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everybody's like , ok , there's gonna

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be mountains , it's gonna be tough .

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And then it was just like , whole , you

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know , this is hard . The event that I

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found myself to be most successful in

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so far was I'd say it

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was land navigation . Um , that was a

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very tough course as well as having to

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have rucksacks on her back . But , um ,

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and I mean , successful as in , I had

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some issues early on and then I figured

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out how to adapt and get around them .

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Um I maybe didn't perform as well as I

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wanted to , but from how things were

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looking at the beginning to how things

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ended , it was definitely the most

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successful event for me in that matter .

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Um If a soldier came and wanted to do

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the best warrior competition , I would

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tell them that they need to study very

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hard . Um , regardless of all the

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physical events , um , studying is just

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as if not more important , you need to

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know how to do warrior tasks . Um You

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need to know , um , army history , army

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regulations and that goes also just

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being physically in shape too , matters

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a lot , but they need to be ready to

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study and work really hard while

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they're here . I think I serve

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because my dad served . Um , I'm the

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youngest of six . and growing up , I

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guess I was looking to do something

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different from my older siblings . Uh ,

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I was always , you know , I looked like

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this sibling looked like that sibling ,

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this sibling did this , this sibling

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did that and I was looking to do

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something different and set myself

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apart . So I think that's , that's why

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I chose to surf . I continue to serve

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because of the people I'm around . Um

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II , I love being around the people

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here . Um I think they're a lot of fun .

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I love the attitude and just wanting to

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be really good at everything you do ,

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but also have a great time and be a

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good person while you're doing it . The

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best warrior competition has made me a

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better guard soldier just because of

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the mental challenges . It's put a lot

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of pressure on us and it's taught me

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how to work under pressure and how to

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work while tired as well as learning

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little tricks and skills and getting

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better at tasks . But the biggest thing

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for me that I take away from it is

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learning how to work under pressure and

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work while tired .