ROTC Team Wins Ranger Challenge

Cadets Beck and Richards unclip Cadet Argyle from the one-rope bridge during practice for the competition while Cadet Boice looks on. PROVO, Utah – Nov 7, 2011 – Brigham Young University's Army ROTC team triumphed once again in the annual Ranger Challenge competition, making this the 28th time BYU's team has won first place in the past 30 years.

A few of the extra challenges the nine team members had to overcome this year included a 2,000-foot increase in altitude, blizzard conditions and unfamiliar terrain. The competition was held Oct. 6-8 at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Team captain Cadet Bruce Richards, a junior from Salmouth, Maine, studying geospatial intelligence, says the team was well-prepared for the challenges it was presented with. Even though team members were not expecting four inches of snow, they relied on what they had practiced, defeating 16 other ROTC teams from programs in Wyoming, Colorado and Utah.

"Once we got to the competition everyone was really squared away; they knew their tasks and what they should do," he says. "We were able to win because we practiced."

The 2011 Ranger Challenge team. Top row, from left: Cadets Josh Malmgren, Nathan Beck, Cooper Boice, Bruce Richards, John Bomsta and Jonathan Argyle. Bottom row, from left: Cadets Anna Savage, Preston Taylor and Shauna Butt.The competition included several tests of mental and physical endurance: a written exam, a physical fitness test, a one-rope bridge challenge, an obstacle course, a hand grenade assault course, a land navigation activity and a nighttime ruck march. All the teams are given an outline of the events and how they will be scored before the semester starts, allowing them to train for the specific events.

Team member Anna Savage, a linguistics sophomore from Highland, Utah, says the most difficult challenge was the 10 kilometer ruck march, which began that Saturday night with each team member carrying a 45-pound rucksack. As cadets made their ways over hills and obstacles, they were given extra equipment to carry, such as five-gallon water cans, sandbags and a 55-gallon drum. Despite the unfamiliar terrain, the BYU team came in first, finishing 20 minutes before the other teams.

Captain Ian Berg coached the team and says team members' maturity and ability to analyze situations, along with their strengths and weaknesses, allowed them to keep up the history of excellence in BYU's program.

"They showed up every day to work and had a real goal in mind, which is what led them to win," he says. "Teamwork and dedication are always the keys to success, whether it be in business or in the military."

Because of its win, the team has the chance to be invited to the annual Sandhurst competition, an international event held at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. The team will find out in November if they will participate in the competition, which is held winter semester.

In addition to Richards and Savage, this year's Ranger Challenge team consisted of Cadets Jonathan Argyle, a public health senior from Renton, Washington; Nathan Beck, a Spanish translation senior from Arcadia, Calif.; Cooper Boice, a pre-management sophomore from Carlsbad, Calif.; John Bomsta, a biophysics senior from Montpelier, Idaho; Shauna Butt, a geography junior from Tucson, Ariz.; Josh Malmgren, a pre-mechanical engineering sophomore from Boise, Idaho; and Preston Taylor, an economics senior from Littleton, Colo.

The Marriott School is located at Brigham Young University, the largest privately owned, church-sponsored university in the United States. The school has nationally recognized programs in accounting, business management, public management, information systems and entrepreneurship. The school's mission is to prepare men and women of faith, character and professional ability for positions of leadership throughout the world. Approximately 3,000 students are enrolled in the Marriott School's graduate and undergraduate programs.