SEATTLE -- Army Staff Sgt. Anthony Scott didn’t make the cut when he tried out for “Jeopardy” more than a decade ago, but the trivia skills he’d learned since then paid off when he and a team of fellow Soldiers and Airmen joined forces on King 5’s “New Day Northwest Game On! Trivia Challenge” Feb. 28 in Seattle.
Scott joined Army 1st Lt. Brendan Rhatican, Air Force Capt. Branden Gulick and Airman 1st Class Tyler Wilson to create Team Joint Base Lewis McChord. They crushed their competition, “Team Civvies” – a group of civilians picked from the “New Day Northwest’s” live studio audience, with a score of 110 to 70.
“I grew up watching trivia game shows with my family and have always had a love of learning new things, so I felt ready to tackle this challenge,” said Scott, a Geospatial Intelligence Imagery analyst with Delta Company, 23rd Brigade Engineer Battalion, 7th infantry Division. “About 12 years ago, I tried out for a slot on the TV show Jeopardy. I didn’t make it then, but I’ve continued to hone my trivia skills ever since.”
Team members prepared for the challenge several ways including watching previous episodes of “Game On!,” watching “School House Rock”with their families and brushing up on American history and pop culture.
There were only a few questions that Team JBLM didn’t know the answer to, said Scott.
Some participants said the event was a team-building opportunity for members of different military services, others saw it as a chance to show a different side of service members to those in the civilian community.
“Working together with the Army to achieve our goals, even in small non-life-threatening events like this, builds comraderie and our ability to cooperate,” said Wilson, 7th Airlift Squadron Aviation Resource manager.“Combined efforts to overcome small hurdles is what joint operations is about.”
“Some people have a view of military members as very stoic and rigid. I hope that from today’s event the community sees us as regular people who volunteered to do a job,” added Gulick, 7th AS C-17A pilot. “We are part of the community and we want to show the unity between branches of the military and our community.”
Rhatican, the executive officer with Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 17th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Division Artillery, 7th Infantry Division said he and his teammates are ready and willing to return and defend their titles if the opportunity presents itself.
Team JBLM received several boxes of Nerds candy as their prize for winning while Team Civvies received Air Heads Candy.
To watch the segment go here: http://www.king5.com/entertainment/television/programs/new-day-northwest/game-on-trivia-military-vs-civilians/416139241