MIHAIL KOGALNICEANU, Romania -- Upon entering the gym at Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base here, a group of soldiers and Marines stand out as they spar together. Sweat flows profusely while grunting and smacking sounds reverberate throughout the crowded court that accommodates basketball, volleyball and various cardio and weightlifting equipment.
Boxing is an inspiration and an outlet for Army Sgt. Marcos Benitez, an armor crewman with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, who has taken his love for the sport to Romania, 6,500 miles away from his normal training ground at Fort Carson, Colorado.
“I started boxing with my father when I was 6,” said Benitez, an M1A2 Abrams tank gunner.
Although he trained casually as a child and as a teenager in high school, Benitez began intensive training after joining the Army.
Finding a Mentor
During his first deployment to Qatar in 2015, he found a coach and mentor in Army Sgt. 1st Class Joel Vallete, the battalion’s signal section chief and a veteran boxer with 10 years of experience who took up coaching in 2013.
“The efforts that Benitez devotes to his training as a boxer is an extension of the professionalism he displays as a tank crewman,” said Army Capt. Justin Bowen, Charlie Company commander. “He always has a positive attitude and a willingness to mentor his subordinates.”
Benitez had his first recorded fight on Dec. 17, just a couple weeks before he deployed to Europe. The fight was a non-affiliated exhibition match to raise money for Toys-for-Tots and a winter coat drive at Triple Threat Gym in Colorado Springs.
His wife, Irene Benitez, and his trainer, Vallete, watched his inaugural match. Benitez said he was nervous, but he won by knockout in the third round. His win was the only knockout of the night.
Benitez and Vallete continue to train during the unit’s deployment to Europe in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve. Initially this meant training in Poland, where the brigade conducted reception and integration activities before the unit arrived in Romania to train alongside NATO allies.
The pair’s dedicated training and enthusiasm has attracted a growing group of fellow service members here. They meet every night at the gymnasium as a large group to spar and perform circuit training exercises.
“He’s a fighter,” Vallete said of Benitez. “He’s aggressive when he needs to be, and defensive when he needs to be. He’s working all the time; when they pause, he’s working them.”
Benitez plans to pursue more record fights in the near future. He hopes to qualify for a spot on the boxing team in the World Class Athlete Program, the Army’s Olympic development team. He’s hoping to find some available opportunities to further his successful record while in Romania, he said.
Army Sgt. Marcos Benitez, left, an M1A2 Abrams tank gunner with 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, spars with Sgt. 1st Class Joel Vallete, the battalion’s signal section chief, at a gymnasium at Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base, Romania, March 8, 2017. Army photo by Spc. Matthew Searcy