JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas –
Two ROTC teams representing 5th Brigade Army ROTC, headquartered at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, participated in the 51st annual Sandhurst Military Skills Competition April 12-13at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York.
Sandhurst is an international academy military skills competition comprised of rigorous physical and mental activities designed to present unexpected challenges and mimic the tasks of combat operations. The event has been hosted by the U.S. Military Academy since 1967.
This year’s competition, which included the Utah Valley University and Tarleton State Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps teams, involved a two-day, 27 mile course featuring 13 day and night events designed to test the abilities of individuals and the teams as a whole.
These events included physical fitness, marksmanship and land navigation challenges. Each event is rated through a specific set of qualifications that judge the skills and timeliness of the participants.
Participating in the competition this year were 49 teams comprised of four U.S. service academies, 14 international teams and 16 ROTC teams.
Utah Valley University Army ROTC and Tarleton State Army ROTC held their own in the competition with Utah Valley finishing in third place among the ROTC teams and Tarleton finishing in thirteenth place. The teams will now return to their universities and begin preparing for next year’s Ranger Challenge to determine which battalions will represent 5th Brigade Army ROTC at Sandhurst 2020.
The 5th Brigade Army ROTC is one of 8 U.S. Army Cadet Command brigades located across the nation, and hosts 36 ROTC battalions throughout Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and Wyoming. Army ROTC provides cadets with the character-building aspects of a diverse, self-disciplined civilian education with tough, centralized leadership development training.