USU Cadets Finish Second in Competition
By the end of the second day and after about 18 hours of physical and mental exertion, four of the 10 Utah State University competing ROTC cadets were hooked up to IVs.
This was the scene at the end of the annual ROTC Ranger Challenge - a competition that tests cadets' soldiering abilities where. USU's ROTC division competed against 22 other schools from Utah, California, Nevada and Arizona at Fort Hunter Liggett in Monterey, Calif. on Nov. 18 and 19 where they took second place overall.
The Ranger Challenge demanded physical and mental prowess on behalf of every cadet, and most importantly, the ability to work together as a team.
"It's like a thousand inside jokes that keep you going," Georganne Bell, a senior majoring in dietetics, said about the strenuous competition. "[You] know somewhere out there, there is a tougher you and you want to be that person."
The competition tests cadets' abilities during a two-day challenge through events such as a 10K rucksack march, an obstacle and confidence course, individual physical training tests, a rope bridge challenge and a basic rifleman's marksmanship competition.
Each event is worth a certain number of points, and at the end of the second day, those points are tallied to determine the winner. USU's team placed first in the obstacle course and land map and navigation competition. Overall, the top four schools all came from Utah, with Brigham Young University leading in first place.
There were several personal victories for the USU team. Georganne placed third in the personal fitness test in the female category, with a total of 361 points out of 300 - indicating she maxed the requirements for her age and sex. Garland Pierce, a sophomore majoring in accounting, placed second in the male category of the same event.
The 10K rucksack march was the last event, leaving many cadets completely exhausted. Compounded with the physical and mental demands of previous events, more than a handful of cadets from various schools required IVs to hydrate and re-energize at the end of the course.
Stanford Bell, a senior majoring in history, was this year's team captain. Taking second place, Stanford said the team gave its best, adding the whole purpose of this competition is to make the cadets better officers.
"You find where your real limits are," he said, adding the past semester has been more mentally strenuous than anything else.
This year's team was comprised of 10 cadets: Stanford Bell, Pierce, Cuyler Cliffton, Tyler Denton, Remington Curtis, Georganne Bell, Josh Springer, Brandon Andreasen, Ben Lee and Stuart Brough.
"I don't think anything is more worthwhile than doing as well as we did and leaving best friends," said Pierce.
Much of the team's motivation came from Lt. Col. Rand Curtis, he said.
"This is Col. Curtis' last year and we really wanted to do this for him," he said. Andreasen added about Curtis, "He's what makes this program really awesome."
While crawling through brush, underneath barbed wire and running six miles in 80-dregree weather, it may be hard to find motivation. Perseverance and team unity kept the cadets going, Cliffton said. Admitting the challenge was hard and several events would initially be intimidating, Cliffton said he strives to push the boundaries of his comfort zone and being in the ROTC has allowed him to do just that.
"People are afraid of what they don't know," he said. "I'm excited to [take on] what I don't know. I'm crazy. I'm not afraid of anything. Training in extreme circumstances is what prepares you for events like that."
As the only female on the team and wife of the team captain, Georganne Bell was dubbed by her teammates as "Queen of the Ranger Challenge." Using her background in dietetics, she helped modify diets that would allow her teammates to compete the best.
Although Bell is not formally going through the ROTC program, she signed up for the course this semester solely for the Ranger Challenge.
"I just love it," she said. "It's the feeling afterwards, after running six miles with a 35-pound ruck. You're more physically capable than you've ever been."
The team balanced their schoolwork, personal lives and 20 hours a week of training to prepare for this competition, Bell said. Training began a week after school.
"It's hard to balance school," Brough said. "I was hard for awhile."
The key to keeping morale high was to have fun, Cliffton said, and getting up at 5 a.m. to train.
"It sucks, but I loved it because I got to be with these guys everyday," he said.
Sgt. Jason Myers was the team coach and watched the cadets train all semester long for this one event.
"I think what it does is it fine-tunes their ability to work in a small team," he said. "It builds team confidence. When you're working on a team, you've got to trust the guy to the left and the guy to your right."
Several cadets plan to compete in next year's challenge, vying for the first-place trophy, a large, golden bear.
This was the scene at the end of the annual ROTC Ranger Challenge - a competition that tests cadets' soldiering abilities where. USU's ROTC division competed against 22 other schools from Utah, California, Nevada and Arizona at Fort Hunter Liggett in Monterey, Calif. on Nov. 18 and 19 where they took second place overall.
The Ranger Challenge demanded physical and mental prowess on behalf of every cadet, and most importantly, the ability to work together as a team.
"It's like a thousand inside jokes that keep you going," Georganne Bell, a senior majoring in dietetics, said about the strenuous competition. "[You] know somewhere out there, there is a tougher you and you want to be that person."
The competition tests cadets' abilities during a two-day challenge through events such as a 10K rucksack march, an obstacle and confidence course, individual physical training tests, a rope bridge challenge and a basic rifleman's marksmanship competition.
Each event is worth a certain number of points, and at the end of the second day, those points are tallied to determine the winner. USU's team placed first in the obstacle course and land map and navigation competition. Overall, the top four schools all came from Utah, with Brigham Young University leading in first place.
There were several personal victories for the USU team. Georganne placed third in the personal fitness test in the female category, with a total of 361 points out of 300 - indicating she maxed the requirements for her age and sex. Garland Pierce, a sophomore majoring in accounting, placed second in the male category of the same event.
The 10K rucksack march was the last event, leaving many cadets completely exhausted. Compounded with the physical and mental demands of previous events, more than a handful of cadets from various schools required IVs to hydrate and re-energize at the end of the course.
Stanford Bell, a senior majoring in history, was this year's team captain. Taking second place, Stanford said the team gave its best, adding the whole purpose of this competition is to make the cadets better officers.
"You find where your real limits are," he said, adding the past semester has been more mentally strenuous than anything else.
This year's team was comprised of 10 cadets: Stanford Bell, Pierce, Cuyler Cliffton, Tyler Denton, Remington Curtis, Georganne Bell, Josh Springer, Brandon Andreasen, Ben Lee and Stuart Brough.
"I don't think anything is more worthwhile than doing as well as we did and leaving best friends," said Pierce.
Much of the team's motivation came from Lt. Col. Rand Curtis, he said.
"This is Col. Curtis' last year and we really wanted to do this for him," he said. Andreasen added about Curtis, "He's what makes this program really awesome."
While crawling through brush, underneath barbed wire and running six miles in 80-dregree weather, it may be hard to find motivation. Perseverance and team unity kept the cadets going, Cliffton said. Admitting the challenge was hard and several events would initially be intimidating, Cliffton said he strives to push the boundaries of his comfort zone and being in the ROTC has allowed him to do just that.
"People are afraid of what they don't know," he said. "I'm excited to [take on] what I don't know. I'm crazy. I'm not afraid of anything. Training in extreme circumstances is what prepares you for events like that."
As the only female on the team and wife of the team captain, Georganne Bell was dubbed by her teammates as "Queen of the Ranger Challenge." Using her background in dietetics, she helped modify diets that would allow her teammates to compete the best.
Although Bell is not formally going through the ROTC program, she signed up for the course this semester solely for the Ranger Challenge.
"I just love it," she said. "It's the feeling afterwards, after running six miles with a 35-pound ruck. You're more physically capable than you've ever been."
The team balanced their schoolwork, personal lives and 20 hours a week of training to prepare for this competition, Bell said. Training began a week after school.
"It's hard to balance school," Brough said. "I was hard for awhile."
The key to keeping morale high was to have fun, Cliffton said, and getting up at 5 a.m. to train.
"It sucks, but I loved it because I got to be with these guys everyday," he said.
Sgt. Jason Myers was the team coach and watched the cadets train all semester long for this one event.
"I think what it does is it fine-tunes their ability to work in a small team," he said. "It builds team confidence. When you're working on a team, you've got to trust the guy to the left and the guy to your right."
Several cadets plan to compete in next year's challenge, vying for the first-place trophy, a large, golden bear.
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