Maranatha ROTC wins Ranger Challenge
There has been a group of Maranatha Army ROTC cadets conducting extensive training over the past few weeks. Perhaps you have seen them around. They have dedicated 1 ½ to 2 hours each day preparing mentally and physically for one goal—the Army ROTC Ranger Challenge. Afternoons were spent practicing proper construction of rope bridges and conducting land navigation. They were up before the sun Saturday mornings for road marches in full battle gear.
The Maranatha Army ROTC detachment sent its five-man team to Fort McCoy, Wis., Oct. 9-11 to compete in the 3rd Army ROTC Brigade 2009 Ranger Challenge. Charlie Company was expected to struggle to place in the top 50 percent due to having one of the smaller detachments in the region. However, when the dust settled at the end of the weekend, the Maranatha team had decisively beaten teams from schools in Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. That victory was due in part to extensive training. However, on numerous occasions, the performance was beyond any capabilities the team possessed and can only be attributed to the providence of the Lord.
Ranger Challenge
Final team scores from the Five-Man Ranks Competition at the 3rd Army ROTC Brigade 2009 Ranger Challenge at Fort McCoy, Wis.:
Team Points
1. Maranatha......................2,300
2. UW-Madison...................2,160
3. Michigan Tech.................2,120
4. UW-Stevens Point...........2,100
5. UW-Whitewater...............2,100
6. Ripon.............................2,100
7. UW-LaCrosse.................1,700
8. UW-River Falls................1,700
9. UW-Oshkosh..................1,380
10. UW-Eau Claire..............1,240
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The team members were Cadets Joe Furnari (captain), Matthew Allen, Keith Kraker, Ben Zakariasen, Daniel Strait, and Jared Domsic (alternate).
Night Navigation, Conditioning Course
Night Land Navigation, the first event, sets the tone for the rest of the weekend. This was certainly true for the Maranatha team. The men divided into two teams—one to find points located near the start point and one find points located more than two miles away from the start. The near team quickly located a number of valuable points and returned to submit its score. The far team had some difficulties and was temporarily confused as to its location. Thankfully, the Lord was faithful and allowed the far team to find its last point and run two miles back to the start point moments before points would have been deducted for being late. The cadets found themselves in third place when returning to the barracks the at the end of the first day.
Early the next morning the Ranger Challenge teams began their day with the Army Physical Fitness Test. Participants did not experience the beautiful weather of previous years. Instead, with temperatures below freezing, the competitors shivered their way through the hour-long test. The Maranatha team members did not achieve perfect 300 scores across the board, but were consistent—nearly all scored more than 290.
The competition continued with the conditioning course. Maranatha’s late position in the lineup meant a significant wait in the freezing temperatures. But the Lord always knows what is best, and there was an incalculable benefit to the wait. Many of the obstacles had been covered with frost, making them hazardous and difficult to negotiate. By the time the Maranatha team was called, most of the frost had been worn off by the preceding teams. Maranatha came in with a respectable time and moved into the top three of the standings.
The cadets then moved on to the main events of the day—daytime land navigation, rope bridge crossing, litter carry, weapons station, and HMMV pull.
More second day events
The Maranatha team’s previous experience allowed it to move to prepare quickly for the first event. Team members, shooting a bearing and trusting their land navigation skills, arrived at their first event in minimal time. The rope bridge event had a few changes from the previous year. The risk of injury due to immersing cadets in a frigid lake caused the event to be held over open ground. As has been the case in past Ranger Challenges, the one-rope bridge was the team’s opportunity to shine. The event went very well , with only one penalty. The resulting time put the Maranatha team more than a minute and a half in front of the closest competition.
Movement to the next event, the casualty evaluation and HMMWV (Humvee) pull, was over easy terrain and only a couple thousand meters. Maranatha’s team had done poorly in this event in the past, but not today. The cadets evaluated a casualty and called for a MEDEVAC. The team was nearly perfect with a final score of 48 out of 50. The team then moved the “stalled” HMMWV off the landing site. This was not quite as smooth due to a rope getting stuck under the HMMWV tire. Even so, the team worked together, fixed the problem, and got an overall score that secured second place.
The Maranatha team then moved more than a mile to what is arguably the most physically difficult event of the competition, the litter carry. Imagine hauling a litter with sandbags weighing more than 200 pounds up a steep hill, then back down a steep path of lose sand. It is no easy task! After struggling to the top, negotiating two obstacles, then maintaining their footing down the sandy trail, the team slid across the finish line more than 45 seconds in front of its nearest competitor (and No. 1 rival), UW-Madison. Once again, the Lord gave the strength necessary to complete a task the team could not do in its own strength.
The fourth and final event of the day was room clearing and weapons disassembly. The room clearing did not go well due to a failure to notice precise details of the initial instructions. The team made up for this performance by scoring well on the weapons disassembly and reassembly, receiving nearly perfect scores and only one penalty. While this was not its best event of the day, the team was consistent as usual and finished near the top.
Clinching first place
Back at the barracks the team was treated to a real meal that made up for a day and a half of MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) and power bars. An hour after going to be, team members were awakened with the results. The Maranatha team, amazingly, was 220 points in front of its nearest competitor. Even a last-place finish on the road march the following day would not be able to drop Maranatha from first place! Instead of worrying about winning or losing based on a single event the cadets were free to do their best and enjoy the road march the following day.
The 10K road march was a simple matter of completion. Even so, the team did its best, running at a slow “airborne shuffle” on the downhill portions and some of the level areas to make up extra time. Everyone held up well through the first 8 km, but pain and dehydration began to set in. Team members dug deep and persevered and no one fell out of the march. The team was able to finish in fourth place in the event.
The culmination of six long weeks of sacrifice and practice was realized at the closing ceremony as the Maranatha Army ROTC Ranger Challenge Team was recognized as the overall winner. The Maranatha ROTC program may be viewed by larger public universities as a non-competitor, but team members were able to display the courage and commitment to excel as well while competing. Maranatha did not succeed because of stronger or better-trained cadets; the public universities have a far greater pool of talent to draw from. The deciding factor was the purpose for competing. The cadets from Maranatha focused on representing the Lord well in everything they did, not just on gaining prestige for their program. The cadets did represent their program, their school and their Lord through teamwork, dedication, endurance, and, ultimately, through victory.
--Posted by Cadet Keith Kraker, Oct. 22, 2009
More Ranger Challenge Photos Here
Nos Named Charlie Company Cadre
Captain Scott Nos hopes the principles Maranatha’s ROTC cadets learn during their training sessions will very directly relate to what they are learning in the classroom.
“The core values the Army teaches are very compatible with Christian teaching,” said Nos, who began his duties as the new cadre of Charlie Company on June 15, 2009. “Honor, integrity, selfless service, sacrificing yourself for the betterment of others … these are all values that are faith-oriented as well.”
The 48-year-old Nos was appointed Senior Military Science Instructor by Badger Battalion, which oversees ROTC programs at Maranatha, Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin-Whitewater, and Edgewood College. His appointment is for one year as a replacement for Major Derek Schultheiss, who has been deployed to Iraq. Nos will also teach some ROTC classes at Ripon College.
The Medina, Ohio, native took an unusual path to Maranatha in both military and spiritual contexts.
He joined the Navy after graduating from high school and earned his undergraduate degree at Miami University (Ohio) while on an ROTC scholarship. His 14 years in that branch of the service included two tours of duty in Hawaii, one each in Alaska and Iceland, and two years on the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk.
Seven years after leaving the Navy, and after having earned a master’s degree from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, he returned to duty with the Army in 2006 as a Combat Engineer. Captain Nos was deployed to Iraq from May of 2007 to July of 2008.
It was while with the Navy in 2006 that he began seeking a deeper understanding of spiritual things.
“I was raised Catholic, but there was this hole in my life that was very apparent,” Nos said. “I knew there had to be something more. I reached a turning point in my life in September of 1996. That’s when I became a Christian and was baptized in Hawaii. My faith is what kept me sane while I was in Iraq.”
Captain Nos, wife Gianna, and son Kiernan, 12, are active in their local church. Captain Nos teaches children’s church and leads music.
Maranatha’s ROTC program has grown from six cadets to 22 in three years, and the Ranger Challenge Team has consistently fared well in regional competition. Nos said he doesn’t anticipate much change in either the growth of the company or its routine.
“We’re hoping for a seamless transition,” Nos said.
--Posted by Andrew Call, 6-18-09