Ranger Challenge
UNA ROTC Ranger team earns silver streamer at Southeast Ranger Challenge
Kim West
Issue date: 11/11/04 Section: Front Page
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"There were a total of 26 teams, with 21 schools participating," said Lt. Col. Rae Atencio, an assistant professor of military science at UNA. "There were several universities that had two teams - Alabama, LSU, Marion Military Institute."
The Lion Battalion scored 1,675.50 and finished 16th among the 26 teams. Southern University took first place, Tulane placed second and the University of Alabama rounded out the top three to earn gold streamers.
"For what we started with, we held our own," said Master Sgt. J.T. McClelland, the team's coach and a graduate of the U.S. Army Ranger School.
Each team was comprised of nine cadets, plus one alternate. In the past, teams were permitted to made up of only males and upperclassmen.
"Now, a team must consist of a freshman, MS1, a sophomore, MS2, a MS3 and MS4," said Atencio. "They must have a minimum of one year group, and we must have at least one female to compete."
Ranger Challenge is the varsity sport of ROTC and consists of eight events: the Army Physical Fitness Test, assembly and disassembly of the M16 assault rife, marksmanship with the M16A2 rifle, 120-foot rope bridge construction, hand grenade assault course, orienteering, a written patrolling exam and a 10-kilometer run with 35-40 pounds of full battle gear.
Atencio said that the UNA Ranger team conducted training six days a week and averaged nine hours per week. The cadets began practicing in late August. They did physical training five days a week.
"Right now we utilize Flowers Hall, the campus for various runs, the rope bridge by the rappeling tower and Wildwood Park," said Atencio. "We do a lot of physical training, rope-bridge training and a lot of our road marches are done that way, along Waterloo Rd. and Wildwood Park."
The team was led cadet co-captains Brian Gibson, a senior, and Justin Watson, a junior. Both competed at Ranger Challenge last year and said that the weapon assembly and disassembly was the team's best event, which requires running to the weapon, breaking it down and putting it back together, doing a function check and running back to the starting position. Watson set the record for the event this year with a time of 57 seconds. The event's standard time is two minutes.
"It's not the best I've done, personally, but it's the best I've ever done at competition," said Watson. "It just kind of comes naturally - once I get started, it just flows."
Cadets are expected to follow orders promptly without question, but Gibson laughed as he recalled an order that might have merited one, or at least not a literal interpretation.
"When we first got down there, Sgt. Mac told me to have people clean out the containers for water - wash them out and put water in them," Gibson said. "There was one that we thought would be self-explanatory. It had Gatorade powder in it, but not actual water in it [yet].
"We told a freshman and another one to go fill it up with water ... she decides to dump the Gatorade out on the ground and then fill it up with water. And Sgt. Mac spent his own money on that, so he wasn't in the best mood when he found out. So we didn't have Gatorade - we drank water."
In addition to Gibson and Watson, the team included senior Michael Scott, juniors David Long, Daniel Bishop, Michael Stewart, John Brimley, sophomore Janine Ramos and freshmen Casey Stewart and Lisa Morgan.
Atencio said he was proud of how hard the team competed and trained. He also mentioned the team's unique make-up, which included a husband and wife and three female cadets.
"We had three women on the team, and a husband and wife compete - Michael Stewart and Casey Stewart," Atencio said. "They're both graduates of UNA, and they're both getting their master's degrees right now.
"It worked out great, and she could do that because she was enrolled in [a military science] class."
Any student with a 2.0 GPA that is enrolled in a military science class is eligible to try out for the UNA Ranger team, which will resume training next August. Interested students should contact McClelland at 765-4461.
