NEWS RELEASE

Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

10/24/2002

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES-Thirteen cadets from Northwestern State University's Army ROTC Demon Battalion will travel to Camp Shelby, Miss. to participate in the Army ROTC Fifth Brigade Ranger Challenge Competition Friday and Saturday.

The Fifth Brigade, known as the Viking Brigade, consists of senior ROTC battalions representing 23 colleges and universities from across the Southeast.

The Ranger Challenge is a two-day competition consisting of six team events that include the Army Physical Fitness Test, building and crossing a one-rope bridge, disassembling, reassembling and firing an M-16, negotiating a hand-grenade assault course, a written examination on combat patrolling, a grueling orienteering course and a timed six-mile rucksack march.

All of these events are designed to test the cadet's tactical and technical proficiency and their physical endurance with the main emphasis being on teamwork. The cadets are scored as part of a nine-person team. The awards go to the highest average team scores.

"This event not only tests the cadets' tactical skills, but because of the time limits and the highly physical nature of the tasks, it also becomes a very significant physical endurance test," stated Lt. Col. Clay Chandler, battalion commander for NSU. "This a great event, not only do cadets get to interact with other cadets from across the Southeast, they also get to participate in some classic school rivalries. Although our biggest rival is usually LSU, several other big rivalries come into play, including competition with Tulane, Auburn, Mississippi State and Marion Military Institute."

The competition calls on the cadets to put in long hours of extra training, added team coach, Master Sergeant Feliciano Davila.

"These cadets train hard for this event, averaging 15-20 hours a week just on Ranger Challenge, along with all their other academic and other ROTC responsibilities," said Davila. "They make a lot of sacrifices to be competitive and they do it to represent the Demon Battalion and Northwestern. You can't really say enough about the pride and dedication of these young men and women -- 36 cadets go through the tough demanding training and only 9 (one team) will actually get to compete, but every single one of them train like they will be competing."

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