ARMOR WEEK: 2024 Sullivan Cup ends at Fort Moore
FORT MOORE, Ga. (WRBL) — The final event of the Sullivan Cup was non-stop motion. Competing teams started “Thunder Run,” a final race to the end, with a two-mile run followed by multiple challenges set across York Field outside Fort Moore’s McGinnis-Wickham Hall.
The event finished in less than two hours. For some competitors, it didn’t feel quite real yet.
“It was all a rush, I mean, once we got done with the two-mile, it was just task, task, task, task, task – I don’t think it really hit me until the [M-]240 went off, we came off and I saw my coach,” said Staff Sgt. Lake Cuerden of team 45-Bravo, a Bradley crew representing the 1st Infantry Division.
Minutes after the end of competition and still drenched in sweat, Cuerden added, “[I] Still don’t really think – I still got adrenaline, I don’t really know if I know it’s over yet.”
ARMOR WEEK: Tank and Bradley crews compete in Sullivan Cup
The Sullivan Cups puts the best Bradley- and M1 Abrams tank crews from across the U.S. Army and its foreign allies head-to-head to earn the title of either best tank- or best Bradley crew.
This year’s competition included 62 participants, including 58 men and four women. They represented the 1st Cavalry Division, 3rd Infantry Division, 4th Infantry Division, 1st Armored Division, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, 1st infantry Division, 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment, Canada, Germany, Poland and the Netherlands.
The inaugural Sullivan Cup took place in 2012 and opened to Bradley crews in 2020. Since it alternates years with the Gainey Cup, this year’s winning Bradley crew would be only the second team to earn that honor.
WWII tanker honored as Fort Moore access point is renamed in his honor
Cuerden said it was his first time competing in the Sullivan Cup, an attempt which was eight years in the making. Coming up in the Army, he’d seen the Sullivan- and Gainey Cups and knew he wanted to take part in the competition. He thanked mentors and peers for getting him to this point.
Awaiting the results of the Sullivan Cup, Cuerden only had one more thing to say as he stood on York Field:
“Shoutout Rooster Platoon, 14 Cav, 1st ID, Devil Brigade – Did it for you, baby!”
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