Major Fritz has always wanted to make sure that 2nd Battalion has regular events occurring to keep things entertaining and exciting. When the time came, he decided to run his own version of the 2nd Battalion Battle of the Platoons. Unlike previous iterations, he took feedback from the previous competitions and used this to try some new things we had never seen before. A new scoring system, scenario creation policy, and even a whole new structure that involved two separate “seasons”. The scoring system, in particular, was unique because it worked on a differential system; completing objectives on attack was no longer enough to score points, and platoons now had to adequately defend said objectives in order to truly be victorious. Likewise, the separate seasons helped ease the burden of what would have normally been a long, continuous competition.
The competition itself ran smoothly with Major Fritz at the helm ensuring everything was run as smoothly as possible. He made sure to enlist the help of company HQ both in creating scenarios and running the matches themselves. Even with the ups and downs of running such a large project he continued to keep it on course and ended up running one of the most exciting competitions we have seen in some time. Even after BBOP was over, he then created a survey to collect much more detailed feedback from the entire battalion on competition in hopes of further improving the BBOP competitions in the future. He particularly wanted to know everyone’s thoughts on scenario balance, competition rules, and length of the competition as well as give everyone an opportunity to express their views on the event overall. The responses were very useful and will likely have a large impact on future competitions. In the end, Major Frits went above and beyond with the amount of time, effort, and skill he dedicated to running BBOP. In recognition of his efforts, he will be awarded the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal.
