Photo By Staff Sgt. Michael Dator | The opening day of the 2015 Best Ranger Competition includes the Ranger Malvesti...... read more read more
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FORT BENNING, Ga. - The David E. Grange Jr. Best Ranger Competition is a test of physical endurance and mental wits. Many will compete, but only a few teams will actually complete the grueling 62-hour event. The competition was started in 1982 and continues today as one of the U.S. Army’s elite endurance competitions. The easy option for most teams is to stop when they feel like they can’t push themselves any farther, but for two infantrymen from the 3d Cavalry Regiment, quitting was never an option.
First Lt. Roy Glasgow, and 1st Lt. Michael Matthaeus, the incoming and outgoing executive officers assigned to Heavy Troop, 3rd Squadron “Thunder,” 3rd Cav. Regt. completed the 32nd Annual David E. Grange Jr. Best Ranger Competition held April 10–12 at Fort Benning, Georgia.
The team originally came up with the idea to compete while they were deployed to Afghanistan earlier last year. The 3rd Cav. Regt held try-outs for the competition at Forward Operating Base Fenty in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. With only four month for train-up, the team had to act fast to prepare for the challenging competition.
“We wanted so see how far we could push ourselves,” said Matthaeus, a native of Austin, Texas. “The hardest part for us was balancing our everyday jobs and responsibilities while deployed with training-up up for such a prestigious event,” he said.
The team traveled to Fort Benning immediately after returning from their nine-month deployment. Long hours were spent with conditioning drills and 12-mile ruck marches in preparation for the competition.
The team finished in 20th place overall – an accomplishment in itself with more than 35 events to include a HELOCAST, unknown distance foot march, night land navigation, written test covering the Ranger Handbook, demolitions range, unknown distance kayak, as well as the famous Malvesti Obstacle Course.
“It’s really all about teamwork and really knowing the guy next to you,” said Glasgow, a native of Philadelphia. “We had to evaluate our strengths and weaknesses going into each event – we would switch who would take lead based on how we were feeling or who was more knowledgeable in one area,” he said. “There were numerous times when our bodies were telling us to quit but the encouragement from our friends, family and unit really helped us push through to see the finish line,” he said.
Fifty-two “buddy-teams” competed this year and only 24 made it to the end.
| Date Taken: | 04.20.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 04.20.2015 19:05 |
| Story ID: | 160627 |
| Location: | FORT HOOD, US |
| Hometown: | AUSTIN, TX, US |
| Hometown: | PHILADELPHIA, PA, US |
| Web Views: | 787 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Fort Hood Ranger-team reflects on elite soldier competition, by SSG Michael Dator, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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