Cedars, December 2017

December 2017 8 CAMPUS by Brianna Saucier C edarville’s Army ROTC Rangers beat out 15 schools for their third-place spot at the Ranger Brigade Chal- lenge in Fort Knox, Kentucky on Nov. 3-4. The Ranger Brigade Challenge is a competition for se- lect ROTC Ranger teams from various brigades. The team members do a series of 40 events involving either military, physical, or mental challenges. Cedarville’s nine-person team was made up of Eli Albright, junior IT management major; Nathan Arnold, freshman computer science major; John Costello, junior international studies major; Jacob Day, junior pharmacy major; Jacob Johnson, senior economics major; Dani Les- ko, sophomore exercise science major; and Matt Macklenar, junior forensics science major. They were led by Ranger Company Co-commanders Nate Mason and Josh Sheehan, junior finance majors. Re- serve members were Andy Arreguin, sophomore pre-law major; and Zach Ashley, freshman exercise science major. The Rangers received a trophy for finishing close be- hind winner Ohio University and second-place Michigan State University. “It was really nice to bring something home for all the effort we put in this semester,” Mason said. Cedarville is part of the 7th Brigade, also known as the Bold Warrior Brigade, which is made up of all Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee and Kentucky Universities that have an Army ROTC program. The winner in each of the eight Brigade Challenges gets to move on to the Sandhurst competition in the spring—a major goal for the Cedarville cadets. Due to their success this year, Day said they remain optimistic about their chances in the coming years. “Our team only had one senior and the first-place team will lose about a third of their team because they are se- niors,” Day said. “So as long as we [focus on] certain events. I think that we have a good chance [of getting to Sandhurst] next year.” In 2016 the team placed fifth and saw the potential to go even higher in the competition. Going into this year, sev- eral cadets mentioned they possessed a greater understand- ing of how to train for it due to new leadership and a new attitude. The commanding duo of Sheehan and Mason comple- mented one another in their efforts to push the team to new heights. Commanding Officer Sheehan bore the brunt of or- ganizing the game plan while 1st Sgt. Mason executed it and monitored the team. “Thanks to the training input from our Cadre and the strategic planning of C/O Sheehan and his right-hand man, Mason, we could endure the physical strain and think clearly under pressure,” Lesko said. “While the com- petition wasn’t easy and had its grueling moments. We’d all put in a lot of training hours, and it made all the dif- ference.” The coordination between the two and their knowledge of the team made their training more efficient and gave them an edge over their competitors. “You need to have a good grasp of your team’s individu- al strengths and weaknesses,” Mason said. “From there you can apply them in different situations ... and put them in a position to succeed.” The competition was spread out over two days, with many of the cadets running on four hours of sleep in be- tween Friday and Saturday. Friday’s events ran from 7 p.m. to midnight, and cadets had to continue the next day from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Between each event, the team had to march with their gear for half a mile just to get to the next challenge. Even the starting point was a three-mile hike from their sleeping quarters. Most of the events were unknown to the cadets prior to that weekend, and not all were military in nature, Mason said. “The whole point is to see how your team will react, because a lot of these you just really can’t prepare for it,” Mason said. “You roll up and you have no idea what you are going to do. +++ ... The whole thing is to figure out how you can think through a problem.” The cadets were given parameters on what was restrict- ed and the objective, but how they chose to execute the mis- sion was completely up to them. One noteworthy example of the team’s quick thinking took place during the Spartan Challenge, an obstacle course CU Places Third in Ranger Brigade Challenge Photo by Kassandra Jensen Cedarville’s Rangers proudly stand with their 3rd place trophy in the auditorium at Fort Knox, Kentucky, following the completion of the Ranger Brigade Challenge.