Last semester, a group of ROTC students on Mississippi State University’s Ranger Challenge Team proved themselves to be dedicated, hardworking and resourceful members of the army. The Ranger Challenge Team competed in the Head-to-Head competition among several universities and the Viking Brigade Ranger Challenge competition, with 22 teams participating.
“What the Ranger Challenge Team is is a team of nine people, with two alternates, who learn teamwork,” said Major Ahshapanek, known to most as Major A.
“We are a team,” Major A said. “A team is stronger than the individual. Competition brings out teamwork in you.”
The Ranger Challenge Team had two competitions during the semester. The Head-to-Head was located at Ole Miss Sept. 21 and 22, along with nine other schools.
When the cadets arrived, they were required to take a patrolling test, which determined if the cadets knew how to move and operate in tactile environments.
The next morning, the cadets rose at four for the Army Physical Fitness Test, where each had to do as many push-ups and sit-ups as they could within two minutes for each exercise. The cadets then ran a timed two mile run. The entire process took two days.
The main event of the Head-to- Head was the 10K run.
“The worst part of Head-to- Head was the 10K run because on the rotation we had to do that first, and it was tough,” freshman Josh Bost of Starkville said. “We had to run 6.2 miles in full uniform and fully loaded ruck sack, while carrying our M-16s.”
The other competition, the Viking Brigade Ranger Challenge, took place Oct. 19 through 22, at Camp Shelby.
The Viking Brigade consisted of several activities where cadets were timed and judged on their skills, while earning points for their team. The Basic Riffle Marksmanship, where the cadets shot M-16s at targets, was the first in the competition. Next was the Hand Grenade Assault Course.
“On the Hand Grenade Assault Course, we had to go on a sprint and along the way, we had to drop down behind a wall and throw a hand grenade,” Bost said.
“We also had to throw a grenade standing, kneeling, laying down and while doing the low and high crawl.”
The next competition for the Ranger Challenge cadets to complete was the One Rope Bridge, where each cadet had to pull themselves across a rope without falling or touching the ground.
“That’s what hurt us,” Bost said. “When we pulled the rope back across, we had a lot of knots in the rope, which is not allowed. It took us 40 seconds to undo the rope.
“We still did pretty good, but we could’ve done better.”
The cadets also participated in the Weapons Assembly and Disassembly, where they sprinted 50 yards, put an M-16 together, made sure it still fired, disassembled it, put it back in the box and sprinted 50 yards back to the finish.
Orienteering was the last event, which involved land navigation and finding a way out of the woods.
“Orienteering was my favorite event,” Bost said. “We just had to run around in the woods trying to find big orange markers. It was so much fun.
“Being a freshman on the team, I didn’t get much say in the competitions. I didn’t really know what was going on, but I had fun and learned a lot and I will definitely do it again.