Last week marked the fifth annual USARPAC (United States Army Pacific) Paralegal Warrior Challenge in which 19 paralegals with the United States Army competed in various events to pit their paralegal skills against one another.
Paralegals who work for the US Army are still Soldiers and the top paralegal Soldiers in the US Army Pacific participated in the event which collectively tested their individual physical and mental toughness in conjunction with their skill set as paralegals.
The Challenge lasted for five days from September 15th through the 19th and started with a physical fitness test administered by the Army. Following that, the Soldiers participated in a swimming competition, an M16 rifle shooting challenge, and a 4.2 mile foot march that they were required to complete in under 45 minutes.
The purpose of the Paralegal Warrior Challenge is to find the paralegal Soldiers that are at the highest degree of “readiness.” That is to say, it is intended to find the soldiers that have the greatest potential to successfully participate in live combat should the need ever arise.
Much of the rest of the US military tends to see paralegals as little more than glorified paper pushers, but those who participated in the Warrior Challenge know that simply is not the case.
The Challenge started with a heavy sense of competition amongst the Soldier participants, but as the events wore on the Soldiers went from an attitude of competition to one of encouragement. According to Sgt. Maj. Cyrus Netter, a Command Paralegal for USARPAC, the Challenge is not intended to be a competition from the Army’s perspective, but that’s what it turns into every year for the Soldiers, at least at the onset of the event.
It isn’t long, however, before they are encouraging one another and fighting for one another within the individual events which, according to Netter, is exactly what the Army as a whole is all about.
