Ranger platoon takes first at regional competition

By Stephen Hodgson
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

Norwich University's Ranger team took first place at the annual Ranger Challenge this year, winning out over 26 other teams.

Dave Douchkoff, 21, a junior criminal justice major from West Hampton, Mass., has been on the Norwich Ranger team for the past two years and attended the annual Ranger Challenge this year.

Last year, "we had little mistakes that made us place third rather than first," said Douchkoff.

The team was very disappointed with how they placed, since they were fully expecting to win. After losing last year, the team put all their energy into coming out on top this year, according to Douchkoff.

The ranger team, which has ten members and one alternate, faces a series of challenges that are very much physically challenging but also very mentally challenging. The A team this year was all seniors and one junior. The team only lost one person from the previous year.

When the team went back this year, they knew one another well. This allowed the team to truly work together as a team and not as individuals. There was definitely an advantage to being able to train together for two years, according to Douchkoff.

Before the team even goes to the Challenge, they do close to two months of intense physical training five days a week.

"We would go from 0530 to 0700, and we would run up to formation," said Joseph Hallett, 21, a senior criminal justice major from Nantucket, Mass. The team's training was not only in the mornings but also in the evenings and on some Saturdays.

The challenge started out early on Saturday morning with a physical fitness test. The average score for the team on the extended scale was a 349. The extended scale goes past the normal Army scale that stops at 300, according to Hallett.

After the physical test, there is a basic rifle marksmanship test, a land navigation course, a patrolling exam, a one-rope bridge race, a weapons assembly and disassembly race, and an obstacle course race. This is all just on Saturday, then on Sunday there is a 10-kilometer ruck run.

The Ranger team won the entire challenge 15 points ahead of the closest team.

"Fifteen points is almost impossible for the next team to catch up," said Stephen Pellerin, 20, a senior criminal justice major from Methuen, Mass. "We would have to fall out of the 10 k for the next team to beat us."

The one rope bridge race has two ropes that are put up; everyone runs across the bridge, and the bridge is then taken down. The team did both ropes in five minutes and six seconds, according to Bryan Whittier, 22, a senior criminal justice major from Scottsdale, Ariz.

"The closest school was eight minutes," said Whittier.

"There was no doubt in our minds that we were going to win this competition," Douchkoff said. "We were a closer team; we weren't in it for ourselves."

The school sent not only the A team, but also the B team. This allows the B team to see how they should work together when it is their turn to compete.

Only one member of the A team will still be here for the Challenge next year.

"My ideal situation would be for the B team to stay together," Douchkoff said. "They're the new A team."

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