RANGER CHALLENGE

Ranger Challenge team at game ball assualt im the only one kneeling.

Well I got talked into the ranger challenge team. So since this is in the past im going to cram this all into one post. Basically we do a compitition against other schools on basic infantry tasks.... alot like westpoints sandhurst. We do pt an extra day and we practice rope bridge on the weekends. So that said, the comp. was at the Air Force Acadamy this year and we had no housing. So we were stuck outside in tents. I brought my big one up for the whole squad but it was moldy beyond. So we used it for rifle storage and equipment storage and stayed in the PMS's tents. Major thanks to him because if he didnt bring those we would be freezing outside under the stars. So the first night we just got everything situated and then went to sleep for a great 0400 wake up. Now about sleep, didnt get any that first night. There was 3 others in the tent with me and quess what, one of em snores. Lucky me, my roommate snores and so did this kid. So Flannery whos sleeping bag was broken spent the whole night kicking him apparently and that didnt even shut him up. And this kid like falls asleep instantly to. So i got like 5 min. And right after i fell asleep I woke up to Msgt. Z on the damn megaphone yelling; "WAKE UP, WAKE UP CADETS, ITS A BRIGHT AND SUNNY DAY OUTSIDE YOU HAVE 25 MIN. TO GET READY!!!" So of course I had been shivering the whole night because it was so f ing cold and then had to change into pts for the pt test. And for some reason we had to take off our pt jackets for the push ups and sit ups. God damn that sucked. Then after that we all decided to strip to our shorts and t shirt to max our run times. COLD!!! and for some reason the 1st mile was uphill and the 2nd down. I usually pass my run but i got like 1905 on this one because of the damned uphill. After the run my chest was hurting whenever I inhaled to. God. So after that we went back to the tents and changed into bdus and grabbed out rucks and rifles to head out to the patroling event. CSU had not supplied us with a protracter or compass for some reason and we were given incorrect information on the ambush location so thanks to the judge for understanding our situation and giving us the right info and his protracter. Any way we went over what we were going to do, who was EPW search and who was Aid and Litter. Then we cleared to cross over the MLR to indian country and off we went. We were in our wedge and always looking around because we were told a sniper was in the area. About halfway thru our little stroll we heard; "CRACK CRACK CRACK" of a gun and hit the dirt. And for some reason, dont ask why, I yelled "Sniper to the east(wrong direction and should be said in the form of a clock like 9 o clock for example) distance unknown." Then someone said disgaurd that and sniper 8 o clock distance 50 m. So me being bravo team I got on line with my team and started shooting at the snipers position. Meanwhile our aid and litter was dragging away black the girl on the team who got hit. We then fell back and 360ed them to protect em while they were dressing her wound. After that the judge said she was healed and could go on. So we went on and set up our ambush. 2 guys, one with a RPG and the other with a AK walked by and we opend up. After that me and flannery searched em(missing the radio for some reason) and then we took off. After that we went to the Land Nav cross. We split up into 3 groups of 3 and went to differnt points, one being east, the others medium and hard. I went with cartrite and davis to the ahard points and ended up going a long distance and up a big ass hill. Being we only had one protracter we had to plot the grids after we found em for the 2 other teams. My group also had to run back rucks and all to make it back in time. Then we went to the Grenade assualt course. This thing was huge. It was the course they use for bayonet training for BCT at the air force acadamy. Just modified for grenades. I cut myself on the barbed wire a few times and the friction of the pants against my legs burned my leg hair off. Also about a fourth of the way through I got tired and slowed down. Msgt. Z wouldnt let me quit so he kept yelling KEEP GOING PVT DONT LOOK UP JUST KEEP RUNNING AND CRAWLING ILL TELL YOU WHEN TO LOOK UP CADET JUST MOVE. So i got like a 1206 time and passed. Then it was off to the rifle range were we qualified. I didnt go to Fall FTX so I didnt know how to zero a m16 so I figured it out on my own and then we fired qualifiing the old way. Prone supported on various targets on one stationary page. Unfortunitly I ran out of time and only fired my first mag. 3 min isnt enough for me I quess and I cant work on it like at Basic were you have a few days to learn how to shoot. Then it was rope bridge, we didnt do good at all enought said, and it rained and my stuff was soaked, thank god my poncho was on the top of the ruck. Then we got back and Maj. Nelson bought BURGERS!!!! YEAH NO MRES TONIGHT!!!!!(all of our meals were MRE's). Went to bed and low and behold more snoring. I punched him and he stoped for like 30 sec. and did it again. But I was to tired to care. Got a 6.2 mile ruck march with full gear the next day.

Woke up and was sore, tired and wasnt motivated. We were driven to the start line and we ran the downhills. When we hit the water point we had to go onto a sandy road and climb a huge steep hill. This was the hard part. It was nothing but up and down up and down. I also got tunnel vision because I was so exausted. But I refused to collasp and kept running and range walking. The one girl on the team started struggling and wanted to stop but we wouldnt let her. (she was shorter then the rest of us and had to use a lot more energy to keep up) We got to the end and i just dropped. Then a Cadet officer came by and checked that we had all our gear.... quess what, I didnt have my blk leather gloves.... 3 min on our time all my fault. I felt so bad and thnk god that everyone but one understood. Then we went to m16 ass. diss. And I forgot how to get the damn lil spring out. My grader helped me after a few min and then i put it back together and did a successful functions check. And that was it. We packed up and left. And I was tired as hell, and smelled horrible(no showers and no deoderant is bad!!). Got back home and when I took a shower the water was black..... pretty gross eh? Then passed out on the bed.