By Dona Fair
FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. – He was exhausted. He hadn’t slept in two days and was having problems focusing on the task at hand. He was hungry. He couldn’t remember his last meal. It was non-stop action. Each task seemed more excruciating than the last.
For the son of a Gig Harbor couple, it was a marathon of continuous events that tested his abilities as one of the Army’s best combat engineers during a 52-hour, six-phase blur of events called the Best Sapper Competition.
Army Capt. Mark D. Gillman, son of David and Suzanne Gillman of 72nd Ave. N.W., Gig Harbor, was one of those elite engineers who competed against 33 other two-person teams to see who would earn bragging rights as the Army’s best within the combat engineer career field. The contest showcased, not only their physical 
prowess, but tested just about every engineer skill they would use in combat.
The competition was open to any soldier, sailor, airman, or Marine who has earned the Sapper tab, an elite qualification badge worn by those who successfully complete the 28-day Sapper Leader Course that has a 50 percent attrition rate. Regular engineers who don’t have Sapper tabs were also allowed to compete.
“I love competition. It drives me to be the best. My teammate and I competed in 2007 and earned third place,” said Gillman, who is assigned to the 25th Infantry Division, Schoefield Barracks, Hawaii. “We deployed to Baghdad, Iraq, later that year and returned in February 2009. Coming back home, I am filled with the desire to challenge myself and take advantage of the opportunities this Army and country offer.”
Gillman and his teammate participated in a variety of demanding and exhausting events which included land navigation, mountaineering, helocasting, road marches, weapon assembly and 
disassembly, knots and rope systems, and what engineers like to do best, blow things up.
Because of the intense physical and mental challenges that they would face, they had to be prepared for this grueling competition.
“I trained hard, very hard for the competition. We only returned from Iraq seven weeks ago, so we didn’t have a lot of time to prepare,” said Gillman, who graduated in 1997 from Durango High School, Las Vegas, Nev., and received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 2004 from the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y.
“We trained every day from six a.m. to noon, so that we could be ready while balancing time with our families who missed us while we were deployed. We had to pack hard workouts into shorter times, so we pushed it.”
The six-phased, team elimination events, which covered more than 40 miles of wooded terrain, started at 4 a.m. on day one with a nonstandard physical fitness test. Then after constructing a poncho raft and conducting a helocast swim, the competitors entered the round robin phase faced with challenges that included a counter force charge, timber-cutting charge, urban demolitions and room clearing, engaging of targets using multiple weapon systems in a battlefield environment, evacuating a casualty victim to the bottom of a cliff and climbing back to the top, and ending with the teams shooting, moving, and communicating through urban terrain.
Events on day two included a 15-mile road march and a series of sapper stakes with tests that ranged from weapons and knot identification to patient airlift operations, locating explosive charges, combat-life saving techniques, completing an obstacle course and land navigation 
course.
The final day began with the competitors pulling over their face a bulky protective mask, or gas mask, and running a distance that was unknown to the competitor and ended up being in excess of a mile. After completing the run, the teams were allowed to remove their masks and continue on, faced with tasks along the route which consisted of cutting timber logs and then carrying them, hauling Bangalore crates, an M-15 relay, tire flip, picket pounding, dummy carry and other engineer-related obstacles.
“The road march is the most challenging event. Your ability to compete on day two and three is determined by how well you survive the five hours you have to complete the march,” said Gillman.
Historically, Sappers are experts at demolishing, overcoming, or bypassing fortification systems. They have fought in every American war. The term Sapper was derived from ‘sapeurs’ of the French military. Today the British, French, Indian and American armies use the term.
“To be a “Best Sapper” is about respect for the engineer elite light fighters and being the “Best Sapper” is a tremendous honor—this competition exemplifies that honor,” said Gilman, who has been in the military for almost five years.
