Ranger Challenge teams prepare for regional competition

By Kylee Dalmata & Edina Na-Songkhla
Norwich Guidon Staff Writers

The Norwich University Ranger Team is preparing for the annual New England Area Army ROTC Ranger Challenge, a competition which tests cadets' military aptitude and physical fitness against the rest of the 1st Brigade.

Mast. Sgt. Andrew Zybas, a Norwich Army ROTC junior class instructor, is one of the Ranger Team's coaches and advisors.

"The Ranger Challenge teaches a lot of teambuilding and unit cohesion techniques," Zybas said. "It also gives us a chance to show the other universities that we are a lot better than them."

According to Zybas, this year's Challenge is composed of eight events: weapon's qualification, assembly/disassembly of an M-16 A2, obstacle course, one-rope bridge, an written exam on patrolling movements, land navigation, an Army physical fitness test, and a 10-kilometer foot-march that includes an equipment layout.

Owen Banks, 22, a junior criminal justice major from Nashua, N.H. is the Bravo Team captain. He said that because of the number of cadets intrested in Ranger Challenge, Norwich was permitted to field two teams this year by competition organizers.

Right now there are 22 to 24 people training on a daily basis, according to Zybas. When competition time comes, there will be 10 people per challenge team.

The two Norwich teams, Alpha and Bravo, leave for the Challenge on Friday Sept. 19, according to Zybas. The competition is being held at Fort Devens in Heir, Mass. The teams will return mid-afternoon on Sunday.

The competition is intense by its very nature, according to Zybas. Everyone is out there to win. Not only are the Norwich teams competing against other units, they are battling each other, Zybas said.

"This year we are going to place first and second," Zybas said. "I don't know which team is going to place first. The Bravo team is going to give some of the juniors a run for their money. That competitive spirit amongst themselves is good."

Alpha team boasts three challenge veterans: Anthony Palermo, Joseph Hallett, and Richard Jones. All three competed with the Norwich team last year.

Bravo team includes only one veteran of the Ranger Challenge, James Bithorn, 20, a junior Psychology, English, and Education major from Rockville Centre, N.Y. Bithorn competed in a different brigade's competition while attending Wentworth College.

"Alpha team should be the top team competing, and Bravo team should be in the top ten, minimum," said Bithorn, a Bravo team member.

"We train very hard physically. The Challenge itself should be a cake walk, because we've been pushing ourselves so hard in training," he said.

Norwich has a history of doing "very well" at the Challenge, according to Zybas. The team took tenth place in 1999 and placed fourth last year, Bithorn said, adding that they expect to do even better this year.

The Norwich Ranger Team began training at the beginning of the school year, according to Banks. Physical training sessions have been at 5 a.m.every weekday. Event skills practices have been on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday afternoons.

Banks said they also go on conditioning runs with rucksacks on Saturdays in training for the competition's 10-kilometer hike.

Just training for the events is not enough, though, Bithorn said, explaining that the teams have trained to be ready for anything to happen.

"Ranger Challenge is its own entity," Bithorn said. "Unexpected things will happen, for certain. The only thing we do know is that nothing is certain."

The team as a whole is concerned more with doing their best than anything else, according to Banks.

"I just want us to go out there and physically do the best that we can in every event," Banks said. "To not be able to come back and say that we could have done better than we did."

According to Zybas, the Ranger Challenge program, for the most part, is student-run.

"Team selection is done entirely at the cadet level," Zybas said. "The cadets select the cadets that will participate. Cadet Palermo, the Alpha team captain, chooses both teams with advice from the other senior team members."

The Ranger Challenge is a varsity sport, open to Army cadets of all ROTC class levels.

"After being in the Army for 18 years, it's very rewarding to see young men and women doing what they are doing on a regular basis; their motivation is very high." Zybas said.

Stephen Pellerin, 19, a junior criminal justice major from Methune, Mass., is a member of the Norwich Ranger Challenge Alpha Team.

"I'm really excited," Pellerin said. "We have a really strong team, and I expect to win."

James Pence, 20, a junior business management and accounting major from Lusby, Md., said, "When it's down to this part of the game, where it's a week and a couple of days...we've got it. We're done."

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