Lieutenant General Robert B. Flowers Best Sapper Competition

One of the spring’s premier local events, the Lieutenant General Robert B. Flowers Best Sapper Competition, will once again begin off-post in the Roubidoux Park in downtown Waynesville. The competition begins at 5 PM this Friday, April 19th. The opening ceremony will feature competitors being dropped off from Blackhawk helicopters in the park, followed by non-standard physical fitness test events. The ceremony is free and open to the public. Captain Ryan Reid, Sapper Training Company commander, says the public can follow along with the competition through social media.

Fifty-two-person teams will travel more than 60 miles in 58 hours throughout the Ozarks, while carrying a ruck sack that weighs more than 80 pounds and competing in a variety of events. The events will test them to their mental and physical breaking point. Soldiers will compete on limited amounts of sleep and will have to complete a series of tasks, including demolition, land navigation, steel cutting, mountaineering, a wire obstacle breach, marksmanship, timber cutting techniques, bridge reconnaissance, and utilizing handheld mine detectors.