Twelve of 47 teams finish Best Ranger contest, by Spc. Douglas DeMaio
Otis Willie
(EXCERPT) FORT BENNING, Ga. (Army News Service, May 1, 2002) - A
captain and staff sergeant won the 20th annual Best Ranger competition
here April 28, leading 12 teams that finished the 60-hour test of
endurance.
Capt. Duane Patin and Staff Sgt. Daniel Jenkins from the 5th Ranger
Training Battalion took the lead in the road march, held it through
remaining events and never looked back.
Injuries on the hazard-wrought course kept many of the 47 teams from
finishing, and more than one competitor crossed the finish line
limping. Staff Sgt. Shane Jernigan finished with a broken ankle.
"It is a test of will," said Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric K.
Shinseki, who presented the winners golden pistols and medallions
April 29 at the Ranger Memorial. "Trust and teamwork are demands of
the Ranger Creed and you will all take these lessons learned back to
your units."
As the crowd watched the weekend competition, one ranger descended
from a helicopter 1,500 feet above the drop zone and a gust of wind
carried him into the trees. He hit the sharply pointed branches. At
that moment spectators gasped, as they grasped a sense of the dangers
involved with the contest.
The events are designed to put stress on the mind, joints, muscles and
bones, a competition official said.
"You know it's going to hurt coming in to it," said 1st. Lt. Scott
Wence, 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment.
The competition is tough, said Gunnery Sgt. Keith Oakes, winner of
last year's competition with partner Sgt. 1st. Class William
Patterson. He said it demands more than some can give.
"All these guys have had major lifestyle changes," Oakes said. "All
your free time goes toward training.
"Your mindset starts to change," Oakes said. "You watch what you eat.
Your sleeping patterns change."
The competitors are disciplined, said Capt. John Serafini, 11th
Regiment.
"This is the most physically demanding thing I've ever done," Serafini
said.
"The challenges are just as tough mentally as they are physically,
said Lt. Col. David Pound, Ranger Training Brigade executive officer.
Each year the competition is changed to challenge the mental toughness
of the competitors.
"A lot of this competition is psychological," Pound said. "We want to
throw in enough twists to even the playing field. We try to take these
guys out of their comfort zone."
Experienced competitors have insight to the demands of the competition
and so extending an event, like the road march, or adding an
additional event tries to equal out the advantages an experienced
competitor may have over a first-time competitor, he said.
This year the fitness test required the competitors do sit-ups
immediately following their pushups, which didn't allow the
participants any time to catch their breath and took them by surprise,
Pound said.
The road march was also changed. Instead of marching 21 miles, a mark
many of the competitors thought was the finish line, the march was
extended an additional three miles.
"It threw the dynamics off the guys who thought they would stick with
the pack," said Sgt. Anthony Mayne, competitor from 3rd Battalion,
75th Ranger Regiment. "When the pack didn't make it, it hurt a lot of
the competitors."
More than half the participants were knocked out of the competition
during the road march event. Only 15 teams remained out of the
original 47.
So, strategies paid off for a few teams who used the march to move up
in the standings, Mayne said.
"We moved up in the standings and ran our race," he said. "We were not
concerned about what the other teams were doing..."
After completing the event, many of the teams were worn down and not
fully recovered by the second day.
"You can recover from the first day of events," Oakes said. "The road
march is where it really starts. It will settle everything."
On the final day, 12 teams were anxious to finish, Mayne said.
Although Jenkins and Patin had pretty much sealed the deal to be
dubbed the 2002 Best Ranger, the rest of the competitors lived by
their creed and fought on to complete their mission.
"It feels like we accomplished something," Mayne said. "It's a
personal achievement..."
The Army's goal for the competition is to display some of the finest
tactical and technical soldiers in the world and to allow the ranger
participants to incorporate what they have learned in the competition
and teach their platoons the knowledge they've gained, Pound said.
"It highlights the best two-man-buddy team," Pound said. "In their own
right, they are world-class athletes.
"They are the best of the best."
In a way, sharing their knowledge with their units is like
contributing to a big family, said Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, Fort Benning
commanding general, who has known the second-place winners, Capt.
Jeffrey Vanantwerp and 1st Lt. Lucas Vanantwerp, since they were kids.
"This competition is part of a great, big family," Eaton said. "The
family is part of the U.S. Army. Mothers, daughters, dads, wives, sons
and girlfriends are all celebrating in this incredible competition."
(Editor's note: Spc. Douglas DeMaio is a member of the Fort Benning
Bayonet newspaper staff.)
http://www.dtic.mil/armylink/news/May2002/a20020501bestranger.html
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Otis Willie
Associate Librarian
The American War Library
http://www.americanwarlibrary.com