What type of team building PT sessions have you done?

SGM Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 00:21:36 -0500

I am a firm believer that to build esprit de corps in your unit there should be fun team building events at PT on a regular basis. You can't do it every day or else it loses it punch but done weekly can get everyone involved and looking towards a certain day of the week.

I have done scavenger hunts with teams purposely built around unfamiliar members.

I also did a river PT session where the unit broke into teams then completed multiple tasks and some tasks involved getting into the river to complete a few tasks. Nothing like getting all sweaty then jumping into a nice cool trout stream at the end.

What have you done to make a team building event for PT? What was the outcome?

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 20 at 2014 12:40 AM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 00:40:33 -0500

1SG,

Just as you said in your post, I have also done a scavenger hunt with my unit for PT. What I did, was drive around post the day prior and make clues to locations around post. I wrote those down on index cards then have them to our commander for approval. He added quite a few locations then the next morning we broke into teams and were given hints to locations. We were allowed one cell phone per team to take pictures of each location to prove we had been there and not cheated. The first team to correctly ID all locations AND make it back to the company AO won the challenge, got the next morning off for PT AND got to "smoke" the other teams!!

Response by GySgt Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 20 at 2014 12:53 AM

GySgt Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 00:53:24 -0500

I love small unit leadership and push small team exercises in a competitive spirit with races, relays, and sports. Exercises, like squad pushups, fire team pushups, chinese sit-ups, seesaw sit-ups, indian runs (throw a sand bag in it), build the house and move the house, fireman carry, fireman carry squats, ground fighting with team vs team, etc.

Response by CPT Laurie H. made Mar 26 at 2014 6:14 PM

CPT Laurie H. — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 18:14:48 -0400

Anything involving a log is great team building PT. We had a nice (very worn, slippery, but somehow with plenty of splinters to offer) PT log at OCS that we had to maneuver with every now and again, which definitely required working together and taking advantages of each others strengths and weaknesses. I don't know if I'd call it fun, but it surely brought us together!

Response by SGT Suraj Dave made Mar 26 at 2014 6:44 PM

SGT Suraj Dave — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 18:44:55 -0400

I never really got to anything fun. Ever. Seriously. I was at Ft. Campbell. Playing sports for PT was banned by post regs. Never played paint ball, or did a river run .... though like 2 or 3 times we got a zonk....

Response by CPL Stephen Kirt made Mar 26 at 2014 6:48 PM

CPL Stephen Kirt — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 18:48:42 -0400

We have done sports PT, which for the most part is basketball because of the size of our squad. We also have done a ruck/run competition that involved a 5k route and exercises at check points that we did together. Wouldn't call it fun necessarily, but was definitely some good PT.

Response by CW2 Joseph Evans made Mar 26 at 2014 6:52 PM

CW2 Joseph Evans — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 18:52:39 -0400

HMWWV pushes were always good. I remember the 105MM team tow drills from the days at the Battery. Beach runs at DLI... So many good ones.

Response by SGT Montana Crawford made Mar 27 at 2014 2:01 AM

SGT Montana Crawford — Thu, 27 Mar 2014 02:01:39 -0400

Ft Wainwright, AK, back when I was still 11B. We divided into squads, put our lightest guys on 4 litters, and it was a race up the ski slope to the top of Birch Hill. You were either on the litter or on 5 gallon water jugs.

Response by 1SG Michael Blount made Apr 17 at 2014 5:36 PM

1SG Michael Blount — Thu, 17 Apr 2014 17:36:28 -0400

1SG - we do alot of Ultimate Frisbee Football. It's cheap, fun and will gas you out in 15 minutes.

Response by SGT(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 17 at 2014 8:29 PM

SGT(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 17 Apr 2014 20:29:28 -0400

My unit plays a game called "Bear Blast". It starts as one person with a beanie baby bear vs. the entire unit. The first person must hit someone with the bear and then that person joins the first person, they are now a team. These two then work together to hit another person. This goes on until there is one person left not hit by the bear, they are the winner. It gets confusing and communication is important once you get down to less than 10 people that have not been hit. There are set boundaries so that people can't just run off. If the person that the bear is thrown at catches the bear, then it does not count as a hit and they can hit another person. It encourages teamwork, physical fitness, and communication.

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Jul 29 at 2015 9:48 PM

MAJ Ken Landgren — Wed, 29 Jul 2015 21:48:17 -0400

We loved our Friday Football. The team scored on had to do sit ups and push ups.