The Brigham Young University Army Reserve Officer Training Corps recently won the annual Ranger Challenge competition at Camp Williams, also called “Apache Challenge–Utah.”
As a result, the BYU Army ROTC team will represent the region at the annual Sandhurst competition held at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York in April 2013. Sandhurst will be a similar competition but on a larger scale involving teams from the United States Military Academy, Naval Academy, Air Force Academy and international cadet teams from the U.K., Canada, Chile and others.
More than 20 teams representing Army ROTC programs at universities from Idaho, Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, New Mexico, Arizona and Wyoming alongside teams from universities in Utah competed in “Apache Challenge–Utah” head-to-head competition.
The challenge tests small-unit leadership, basic soldier skills, physical toughness, mental agility, problem solving and innovation, and is a race against time. Teams began at ten-minute intervals crossing the challenging Camp Williams terrain on a 10-kilometer foot march with full battle gear.
Teams then had to utilize land navigation or orienteering skills coupled with innovation to identify critical terrain as well as arrive at stations where they were tested at problem solving and military skills.
The BYU team won this regional competition with Utah State University finishing second and Northern Arizona University coming in third. BYU was the clear victor, defeating the other teams by more than two hours. It marked the 29th out of the last 31 regional competitions that BYU has won.
For more information, contact Lieutenant Colonel Marc Dewey Boberg, (801) 422-3601 #7734, dewey.boberg@byu.edu.
Writer: Hwa Lee
