Acting Secretary of the Army Patrick J. Murphy, right, is greeted by Staff Sgt. Donnell Jordan, master gunner, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, before entering the M1A2 System Enhancement Package Version Two Abrams Battle Tank to fire Sabot rounds at Range 143 on Fort Carson May 11, 2016. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Craig Cantrell)
By Staff Sgt. Craig Cantrell
Garrison Public Affairs Office
Acting Secretary of the Army Patrick J. Murphy toured Fort Carson and the U.S. Olympic Training Center to meet with Fort Carson Soldiers and civilians during a trip to the Mountain Post May 11, 2016.
Murphy began his visit with a morning session of physical training (PT) with Soldiers from the World Class Athlete Program at the U.S. Olympic Training Center.
“I am appreciative of not only how you athletes represent our country but how you help the Army to get better, because we are America’s varsity team,” he said.
Murphy warmed up by running a few laps around the facility with the track team before beginning a demanding regimen of squats, situps, sled drags, dummy tosses and Bulgarian bag exercises. He ended the workout with uphill sprints.
He took a moment to share statistics with the athletes on the number of nondeployable Soldiers and stressed the importance of physical training to maintain readiness within the Army.
“We, as an Army, have to improve our PT scores because studies show the higher the scores the more likely our Soldiers are to be deployable,” said Murphy.
He then donned fencing gear and challenged Sgt. Nathan Schrimsher, modern pentathlon athlete and 2016 Olympic Team member to a first-to-five touches fencing match before returning to Fort Carson to eat breakfast with Soldiers and host a question-and-answer session.
The secretary of the Army explained plans for the Army of the future.
“My job as acting secretary of the Army is to ensure that it is not a fair fight on the battlefield — that U.S. Soldiers have a tactical and technical advantage over our enemies,” said Murphy.
Murphy also spent time getting to know members of the Fort Carson and Colorado Springs communities and emphasized the need to establish partnerships within the local community to ensure future success for Fort Carson and its Soldiers.
“When our Soldiers leave the Army, whether it’s with three years of service or 30 years, we need to ensure they have jobs, and we need the community and private sector partnerships to ensure their future,” he said.
Murphy flew via a UH-60 Black Hawk to Fort Carson’s Range 143 to observe a demonstration of firepower by 1st Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. He witnessed four
M1A2 System Enhancement Package Version Two Abrams Battle Tanks conducting gunnery qualifications as the tank crews maneuvered and engaged targets.
The acting secretary suited up and fired Sabot rounds at targets downrange.
“It’s great to be here with the ‘Iron Knights’ at Fort Carson. These Soldiers are awesome and one of the best teams in the whole Army,” said Murphy.
At the conclusion of his tour, Murphy shook hands with the Iron Knights Soldiers and left the Mountain Post with a final message: “Fort Carson has the best Soldiers and facilities in the world surrounded by an outstanding community and is training the next generation of leaders here to do what is necessary to win our nation’s wars and keep our Families safe.”