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By Jay King
HOMETOWN NEWS
Photo by Steve Blackwell
Team Spirit: Taras Kryzalka, of Stamford, Connecticut, is carried by his team members from Harrisonburg, Virginia. Each SWAT team was assigned a Wounded Warrior and had to complete an obstacle course. Since Taras has no use of his left arm, his teammates carried him so he could touch each rung of the monkey bars.
In the making of soldiers one of the core principals is developing teamwork and a sense of trust with the comrades to your left and right. The same can be said of a police SWAT team as their training, gear and mindset much more resemble the military than standard patrolmen or deputies.
That sense of teamwork among special weapons and tactics teams from law enforcement agencies across the Southeast is one of the hallmarks of the Southeastern SWAT Association’s annual competition, which took place in Duncan last week at the Spartanburg County Emergency Services Academy.
This was the 17th year of the competition, and a special group of veterans joined the ranks of elite law enforcement units to share experiences, hard-won lessons and that special sense of camaraderie that comes with being part of a select group of men and women under arms. Eight members of the Wounded Warrior Project, including local Iraq veteran Joe Merritt, spent time with the competitors and even took part in some of the events.
The project is a non-profit organization aimed at helping severely injured soldiers through direct support and services and by connecting combat veterans with one another in a network of support and understanding that comes only through enduring a common experience.
Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Capt. Randy Hollifield said having the Wounded Warriors members participating in this year’s event was a special treat for the competitors because it gave them a chance to express their appreciation for the sacrifices made in service to the country.
“I think it was awesome to have them there,” Hollifield said. He added that the Wounded Warrior members also demonstrated the meaning of determination by the way they handled being assigned to teams and taking part in some of the competitions.
For Wounded Warrior members Glenn Kunkel and Harper Woods, being invited to attend and take part in the Southeastern SWAT Association’s annual team competition was an honor and a chance to meet and make new friends.
Kunkel said being around the SWAT teams was very much like being around his military comrades because, in all of the ways that count, SWAT team members and soldiers are cut from much the same cloth.
“This is who we are and this is what we do,” Kunkel said. “Cops are fantastic individuals, no different than the military.’
For Kunkel, a Marine Corps combat veteran who served for 10 years and did two tours in Iraq, the training and tactics of the SWAT competitors was very similar to what he did while in uniform.
Woods served in the Army for 15 years and did two tours in Iraq, two in Afghanistan and one in Kosovo. He said the most memorable aspects of his service was seeing the faces of people newly liberated from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein’s regime and coming home with the guys he served with.
“Those people lived in mud huts,” Woods said. “We went and liberated them and they loved us for it.”
Hollifield said that having the combat veterans of the Wounded Warrior Project helped reinforce the importance of the missions of both defending the country and protecting its citizens. He said it was immensely rewarding to see the camaraderie of the former soldiers and the competitors as they spent time together in between competition events. “Now we’re just trying to figure out what we can do for next year,” he said.
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