Yellow Jacket Battalion Participates in ROTC Competition
12/15/2011
Yellow Jacket Battalion Participates In 2011 Army ROTC Ranger Challenge Competition
INSTITUTE, W.Va. -- In October 2011, West Virginia State University’s Army ROTC program sent eleven of their best scholar-athletes to compete in the annual Ranger Challenge competition held at Fort Pickett, Virginia. The competition was a two-day event that challenged the best and brightest college students enrolled in ROTC programs along the East Coast. A total of 38 Universities were represented, including Duke, WVU, Marshall, and Wake Forest.
The event took place October 20 through 23, where students competed in various timed physical events that were planned along an eight-mile route. The Cadets would road march as a team and accomplish tasks along the way, such as assembling M16 rifles, pushing military trucks, crossing a lake in a zodiac boat then lifting the boat from the water and running up hill to their start point.
Academic challenges were planted throughout the weekend, allowing leaders to interpret the best possible solution towards complex team problems such as solving how to cross a small stream with a simulated casualty, using only a 120 foot rope, 9 members and their rifles. Multiple written tests on patrolling and land navigation were administered, with a short time limit, in order to increase the stress level and hone their combat knowledge that will be demanded of them after graduation.
The students on the WVSU Army ROTC team finished 10th among 20 similar sized programs. The Yellow Jacket Battalion, consists of students from four institutions. Student leaders, scholars, and athletes at West Virginia State University, University of Charleston, WVU Institute of Technology, or Glenville State College, are invited join in preparation for the annual Army ROTC Ranger Challenge competition. For more information contact (304) 389-1985 or email: rotcmail@wvstateu.edu