(Click on the thumbnail for a larger image or to download.)

 

There are few instances in a person’s life when one is completely satisfied with the effort they put forth. One can always do better, or try harder. But the Ranger Challenge team of Marion Military Institute (MMI) has recently experienced one of those few instances in which there were no regrets. Fourteen Army ROTC cadets from MMI trained for two weeks in preparation for the Ranger Challenge Competition at Fort Benning, Georgia. Ranger Challenge is a competition in which regional four-year colleges compete in various locations across the country in six events over two days. The competition begins before sunrise on a Saturday with an Army Physical Fitness Test. This test comprises of Push-ups, sit-ups, and a two-mile run. From this event, the cadets spend the next thirty-two hours competing in events such as: the one rope bridge, assembly and disassembly of the m-16A2 service rifle, obstacle course, hand grenade assault course, and a 10K ruck march. This competition occurs annually, and it is often a highlight of each cadet’s year.

 

The Ranger Challenge team of MMI from the 2006 competition had more than two months to train for the events, and their hard work earned them first place among public universities such as LSU. The cadets and faculty look highly upon the team, and expected just as much effort and motivation in the 2007 competition.

 

Over thirty cadets showed up to join the team on September 19th, just over two weeks before the competition. However, there are only nine cadets required for the competing team, and up to five supporting team members. In order to determine the most able and dedicated, the team captain; Cadet Captain Jeremy Trantham conducted a physical training test to gauge the strengths and weaknesses of each cadet. From a series of cuts, the field was narrowed down to fourteen willing and able college students ranging in age from eighteen to twenty years old.

 

Even though the cadets had a late start, they were all eager to start training for the skills and events in which most of them had no experience. Realizing the lack of time at hand, the team advisors: Master Sergeant Spreen and Sergeant First Class Steele of the United States Army gathered the team in a classroom late one night to plan out each of the next thirteen days of training hour by hour. The team spent more than three hours developing a schedule that would work for each cadet so that the team could get as much training as possible.

 

The thirteen days of training began at 5:00am on September 28th. The team trained every morning and every evening, often going for sixteen hour days, balancing academics, cadet life, and Ranger Challenge training. Team chemistry was built early on in the training and all of the fourteen cadets complimented each other well. The team came up with the motto: “13 days, all we got, all we need!” At times, such as when the team members were running six miles in the pre-dawn hours with rucksacks, equipment belts and rubberized m-16’s, team unity was the only thing that carried all of them through the training.

 

Master Sergeant Spreen and Sergeant First Class Steele were key aspects to the success of the team. Each with many years of experience, they attended every training event, teaching and critiquing the cadets in their skills training. The dedication of time to the team shows the tremendous leadership abilities of these men. Their sense of humor and style of hard learning made for an effective and enjoyable learning environment.

 

The team piled into two vans, and headed for Ft. Benning on the morning of October 12th, knowing that they had given all they had for thirteen days, they were more than eager to showcase all they had learned and practiced through exhaustion. The team was a fine physical specimen, created from scratch, and now an efficient machine prepared to give it their all at the competition.

 

The weekend of the competition was a whirlwind of events, the cadets moved from location to location on a strict schedule. The sequence of events for the team was: the one rope bridge, weapons disassembly/assembly, obstacle course, hand grenade assault course. The first day culminated with a land navigation course, where the team broke up into three man groups and were given four hours to fine eight marked points in the woods. The team captured first place in the events of the obstacle course and the one rope bridge. The standards of the MMI ranger challenge team were much higher than other competing teams. When MMI won the two events, they were focused on how they could do better and the next scheduled event. The second day of competition was the 10K, or 6.2-mile ruck march. This event is often referred to as a “gut check” because it is the last event, and cadets have already exhausted themselves from the day before. In order to be competitive in the event, each team must run the course. The team from MMI finished the course in just over one hour, coming in second by minutes, and beating the last year’s team record. It was a magnificent display of personal courage and desire to win. The team finished as one and carried each other the whole way.

 

When the points were added up, the team from MMI placed 3rd among 12 other teams. For only two weeks of training, it is a fine example in what a team can accomplish in terms of a common goal. The members of the Marion Military Institute 2007 Ranger Challenge Team are as follows: Captain Jeremy Trantham, Lindsey Barber, Joshua Caberello, Brittany Furst, Aaron Jones, Michael Leath, Ronald Lewis, Alex Purdy, Michael Rothenberger, Sharon Serrano, Anthony Signorello, Michelle Trejo, Justin Weeks, and Eldra Williams.

 

 Create your own educational wiki!Support CommunityPublic, not yet premium Privacy Policy RSS