24 ARMY � July 2012

Abrams tanks line up at a Fort Benning, Ga., range forthe daytime live-fire event in the inaugural SullivanCup competition to select the Army’s best tank crew.

Text and PhotographsBy Dennis Steele

Senior Staff Writer

he U.S. Army Armor Center and

School at Fort Benning, Ga., hosted

the inaugural competition to select the

Army’s best tank crew in May with the

overarching goal of advancing the Armor

Corps in the long term.

With the contest theme “Forge the Thun-

derbolt”—a reference to the lightning sym-

bol on the traditional Armor patch—the Ar-

mor Center is using the competition as a line

of departure to reset Armor after 10 years of

war and prepare the branch for the future.

The competition reflected the lessons

learned from combat in Iraq and

Afghanistan while getting back to tanker

basics, especially precision gunnery.

Over four days, 15 tank crews representing

individual armor brigades from throughout

the force vied for the Sullivan Cup, named

in honor of GEN Gordon R. Sullivan, U.S.

Army retired, the 32nd Army Chief of Staff

and a tanker. Currently, GEN Sullivan serves

as president of the Association of the U.S.

Army.July 2012 � ARMY 25

The contest was composed of 12scored challenges, which included crewtasks in Abrams tank maintenance, dis-mounted operations, live tank gunnery,small-arms proficiency and physicalfitness along with tactical simulationsthat tested individual crew membersand the crew as a team.Based on total points scored, the

crew from the 2nd Armored BrigadeCombat Team (ABCT), 1st Armored Di-vision, based at Fort Bliss, Texas, cap-tured the Sullivan Cup. The 1st ABCT,1st Cavalry Division, home-based atFort Hood, Texas, but currently deployed to Kuwait, placedsecond; the 3rd ABCT, 1st Cavalry Division, from Fort Hood,placed third; and the 194th Armored Brigade from Fort Ben-ning placed fourth.

The top-placing crews were:� Representing the 2nd ABCT, 1st Armored Division:

SFC Ryan Dilling, tank commander (TC); SGT ZacheryShaffer, gunner; PFC Mark Backer, loader; and PFC KyleBraun, driver.

� Representing the 1st ABCT, 1st Cavalry Division: SFCOscar Ayala, TC; CPL Michael Adams, gunner; PFC GrantVonmoss, loader; and PFC Wesley Foster, driver.

� Representing the 3rd ABCT, 1st Cavalry Division: SSGLou Rodriguez, TC; SGT Roman Villareal, gunner; PFCRobert Reyna, loader; and SPC Joseph Henry, driver.

� Representing the 194th Armored Brigade: SFC JasonHansford, TC; SSG Edwin Rodriguez, gunner; SPC DylanCornelius, loader; and SPC Brian Blanchette, driver.At the end, only 19.1 points separated the first- and

fourth-place finishers.Consistency was essential—finishing among the top

three crews in a majority of the events with the considera-tion that day and night gunnery was weighted at 60 per-cent of the final scores and the other 10 events composed40 percent of the total points. The better shooters rackedup more points.

26 ARMY � July 2012

At right and below, crews workto assemble a track section

during the maintenance eventof the best tanker competition.

A crew hauls areplacement track

section. Thesection weighsmore than 700

pounds.

Crews were scoredon the time takento complete thechallenge.

The 2nd ABCT, 1st Armored Divi-sion, crew finished among the topthree places in eight of the events; the1st ABCT, 1st Cavalry Division, crewwas among the top three in six events;the 3rd ABCT, 1st Cavalry Division,crew was among the top three in fourevents; and the 194th Armored Bri-gade crew was among the top three insix events.This year, the winning difference

came in the last event of the competi-tion, day live fire.SFC Dilling of the winning team

said that his crew was third after thenight live-fire event but pulled aheadin the day live fire to get the win. The2nd ABCT, 1st Armored Divisionteam is the top crew in gunnery forthe division. Officials said that themost successful among the SullivanCup crews were selected through unitcompetitions.The top gunnery teams in the Sulli-

van Cup competition were (firstthrough third, respectively):

� Night live fire: 3rd ABCT, 3rd In-fantry Division (Mechanized); 3rdABCT, 1st Cavalry Division; and 1stABCT, 2nd Infantry Division.

� Day live fire: 2nd ABCT, 1st Cav-alry Division; 81st ABCT, WashingtonArmy National Guard (the only Na-tional Guard brigade competing); and2nd ABCT, 1st Armored Division(providing the winning edge).The competition was organized by

the 316th Cavalry Brigade, which isresponsible for leader training at theArmor Center and School, and thecompetition’s heavy lifting manpowerwas provided by the brigade’s 1stSquadron, 16th Cavalry.The Armor Center and School re-

cently moved to Fort Benning fromFort Knox, Ky., to join the InfantryCenter and School and form the Ma-neuver Center of Excellence.Within the Army, there are now

many “best” competitions, but a tankercompetition until now was not amongthem. Years ago, there was the Cana-dian Cup, a competition for NATOtank crews, but it was discontinued.The idea of establishing a best tankcrew competition within the U.S. Armybegan while the Armor Center was atFort Knox. It became a reality at thecenter’s new home, getting valuablementoring from one of its new Maneu-ver Center of Excellence colleagues,U.S. Army Ranger School, which holdsthe annual Best Ranger Competition,the oldest and best known event in theArmy. The Rangers particularly pro-vided advice about gaining sponsors,

Right, crewmen fire M9 pistols for scores.Below, crewmen scan for targets during

the dismounted rifle phase.

A tank crewman advances during thedismounted small-arms event.

28 ARMY � July 2012

which is necessary for any A-listcompetition. As a result, the inau-gural Sullivan Cup competition waswell sponsored by many of theArmy’s defense industry partners,setting the foundation for continu-ing success.Armor leaders said the best tank

crew event will grow in comingyears because the word will spreadamong the Armor community. Moreunits will become interested in rep-resentation at the competition, withan increasingly higher emphasis onunit competitions sending the topcrews to Fort Benning. The eventwas designed to be the catalyst forwhat Armor Center officials wantto achieve among tankers in the fu-ture—a higher standard of basic

July 2012 � ARMY 29

Left, the winning tank crew from the 2nd Armored BrigadeCombat Team (ABCT), 1st Armored Division, carries astretcher toward the finish line during the competition.Below, PFC Kyle Braun, driver for the winning crew.

Above left, SFC Marc Westenbarger,tank commander (TC), for the 4th ABCT,1st Armored Division, signs a scoresheet. Above right, SFC Ryan Dilling, TCof the winning 1st ABCT, 1st ArmoredDivision, crew waits to start adismounted drill. Left, GEN Gordon R.Sullivan, U.S. Army retired (center),checks the score totals while havinglunch with crews during the competition.

tanker skills throughout the armoredforce, honed at their home stationswith emphasis on precision gunneryand the use of training simulators.Armor officials said that they sense

that precision gunnery skills haveslipped somewhat during the last 10years of emphasis on counterinsur-gency warfare, a necessary emphasisfor the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.Keeping with future national strat-

egy as the Army returns to a reset po-sition, precision gunnery and advanc-ing other fundamental armor skillsagain must receive focus, officials ex-plained. Along with the reemphasison tanker basics, there are also the re-alities created by budget cuts, whichis why home-station training will be amainstay to reduce costs within thearmored force, especially the use ofsimulation training, which is far lessexpensive than conducting the level offield training and live-fire exercisesthat would be necessary to sharpenarmor skills. Hence simulator events

30 ARMY � July 2012

Above, a crew moves to the firing lineduring the daytime live-fire event. Right, a

technician and scorer watch a crew’sprogress during a simulation event.

All competingcrewmembers were

awarded beltbuckles and coins.

July 2012 � ARMY 31

composed about a quarter of the inaugural competitionand why precision gunnery was weighted, setting the tonefor the future.

So it is not what the Armor Corps has done in establish-ing the Sullivan Cup; in the long run, it is what the Sulli-van Cup will do for the Armor Corps. �

The winning crew from the 2nd ABCT, 1st Armored Division, accepts the Sullivan Cup and displays Colt M1911A1 pistols, which wereawarded for the win. From left, SFC Ryan Dilling, TC; SGT Zachary Shaffer, gunner; AUSA President GEN Gordon R. Sullivan; CSM Jim-mie W. Spencer, U.S. Army retired, AUSA’s director of NCO and Soldier Programs; PFC Kyle Braun, driver; and PFC Mark Backer, loader.