University of North Georgia Ranger Challenge team won an ROTC cup in the 52nd Sandhurst Military Skills Competition at the U.S. Military Academy on April 16 and 17. They beat 15 other ROTC teams that took part in the competition and ranked fourth out of total 44 teams.
Beginning in 1967, Sandhurst Military Skills Competition tests cadets’ strengths, speed, endurance, military skills and teamwork. The participants will compete for 36 hours to find out who is the Sandhurst champion. Sandhurst 2021 was not able to invite international teams due to the pandemic. 25 teams from the U.S. Military Academy, 16 teams from the ROTC programs and three teams from the U.S. service academies competed against each other this year. They went through marksmanship, weapons assembly, functional fitness, grenade assault course, burden course, riding inflatable boat, knowledge test, Tactical Combat Casualty Care and land navigation.
UNG Ranger Challenge team ranked the fourth place outdoing 40 other teams. They ended up in the 6th place in Day 1, but pushed themselves to go up to bring glory and honor for the school. It was their third streak to win the ROTC title. They completed the competition in the fourth place in 2018 and third place in 2019, letting no ROTC team above them in both years. The competition was cancelled last year due to COVID-19. Three U.S. Military Academy teams occupied top three places in the competition this year.
Esther Kim, a junior cadet and one of 11 members of the team, said, “Everyone put in a great effort. I’m glad we got this far and we expect to get first next year. Until then we are going to keep training to be the best.” Ranger Challenge team has worked out in every early morning and afternoon, practiced marksmanship, had their own version of practice to do well in the Sandhurst. The Corps of Cadets expressed its pride of Ranger Challenge team and their success in social media outlets.
