Robert Shalvoy ’11, Austin Cheng ’11 and Gordon Brown ’12 are members of the regional ROTC team that won this year’s 2nd Brigade North-Ranger Challenge Competition.
Ranger Challenge is the varsity sport of the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, and more than 273 host institutions from across the country form teams to compete in regional groupings of the warrior skills event. In addition to Union, the local team included students from Siena College, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the University at Albany and Albany College of Pharmacy.
“Over the past five years, our battalion has finished in second place twice, third place once and fourth place once,” said LTC Andrew Morgado, a professor of military science at Siena College. “This is the first time since our program was formed that we have won the competition.”
Eighteen teams comprised this area’s grouping – the 2nd Brigade North – which competed in Ft. Devens, Mass., last month.
“Ranger Challenge takes place over 72 continuous hours and requires absurd amounts of mental and physical endurance,” said Brown, who plans to contract for four years of active duty service in infantry or military intelligence after graduation. “It includes a fitness test, a hand grenade assault course, a reconnaissance patrol and a combat medical course, and it ends with a 10-kilometer run with a rucksack, weapon and full combat gear.
“This was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done,” he added. “It was an honor to even make the team, and I’m privileged to have been able to work my butt off with such an outstanding group of people.”
Shalvoy, who intends to commission as a second lieutenant after graduation, feels the same way.
"Our team performed flawlessly, everyone knew their role and gave 110 percent," he said. "This is the best group of girls and guys I've ever worked with. They are some of the best friends I will ever have."
In addition to placing first overall, the team also won the Merrill Division of the competition. Merrill is the upper division, and since the group has done well the last five years, it earned the right to compete at this level.
Cheng attributed the team's top performance to the dedication of its members.
"We arrived to Union before the academic year began and we trained every weekday from 6 a.m. until 8 a.m., up to the day of the competition. We even sacrificed some of our weekends in order to fully prepare ourselves," he said. "It was definitely our preparation that placed us above the other teams."
Morgado agreed and was impressed with the way the young men and women handled the pressures of Ranger Challenge.
“Throughout the event, our team not only bested the competition, it did so in a manner that brought great credit to our program and to our profession,” Morgado said. “I could not be more proud.”
For additional information on the Ranger Challenge team, click here.